Struggling
by AnatomyFreak
Summary: What happens to Blaine if every time he visits his family, his situation gets worse and worse? One day his father finally snaps and brings out a gun.
1. Coming Home For the Weekend

"Going home for the weekend, Blaine?" inquired Kurt when they were in Dalton's student parking lot.

"Yeah, going to sleep in 'till twelve tomorrow." Blaine said tiredly. He had a hard week with all the drama surrounding finals and what songs to sing at Regionals. Little did the rest of the Warblers know that Blaine Anderson was not looking forward to going home. Going home meant that he would have to face homophobic father and disapproving mother and face the whole "homosexuality is sinful" and crap speech over and over again.

"See you on Monday, Kurt!" Blaine said to Kurt as he was given a tight hug in return.

Kurt whispered into his ear "See you on Monday, too. I'll miss you even if it's only for two days. Courage, Blaine." Blaine jumped, surprised. Did Kurt know?

Blaine finally got into his shiny, sleek, and silver Aston Martin Vanquish and sat there for a minute, trying to process what just happened. He finally called his brother to let him know that he would be coming home; Blaine missed his supportive younger brother Joey.

He drove the two hours from Dalton to Westerville without incident. Blaine contemplated what home would be like this time around with news that he would announce that Kurt was his boyfriend. His parents reacted violently when he first told them that he was gay and nothing would change that. They were stunned, wondering what to do. What happened next was shocking for Blaine, his father threw his dinner plate full of food at Blaine and told him never to bring it up ever again or he would kill him. Blaine never came back to the house again; instead staying at Dalton for weekends and breaks since Joey usually would come and visit Blaine at Dalton. But this time he wanted to collect some things from his room and tell the news to his family.

Blaine quietly opened the door to his house after parking the car in the driveway. He went up to his room to collect some of his stuff to put in the car. As he was coming back into the house he heard a deafening air horn. "Joey, I'm gonna kill you!" Blaine muttered angrily as a Nerf gun dart struck him in the middle of his forehead. He raced up to his room and found his beloved Deploy CS-6 and N-Strike Stampede ECS-50, strapped the Deploy and bullet bag to each of his legs and cautiously stepped down the stairs with his Stampede in his hands.

"Joey," Blaine taunted, "come out, come out wherever you are." Suddenly a bullet struck the wall behind him. He aimed the gun at the wall and hid behind another. Blaine then heard a swoosh, like someone running. A shadowy figure passed him in the corner of his eye; Blaine shot and was rewarded with an "Oof!" but wasn't his brother's voice?

Blaine chuckled, Joey's starting to learn, he thought. He quickly texted his neighbor, Mairead, with whom he had been friends with for years. Blaine quickly ran outside in the snow to rendezvous to with Mairead, his awesome friend and the most accurate shot he's seen.

Mairead smiled. "Hey, you're back! How's it been? I've missed my Nerf partner." She elbowed him in the ribs.

Blaine grinned and tried to headlock her, but she sprinted away. "I'll tell you all about it later, when a pesky little problem in my house is solved." He told her.

"Joey, again? I thought he knew that he can't escape me." She exclaimed as she was loading her modified Barricade gun with eighty bullets.

Blaine sighed. "He did, the little bugger brought in reinforcements. I'm thinking another friend from school who's actually a good shot this time around. From what I can tell from the bullet, he's probably using a Crossbow modified for whistler bullets." Mairead laughed and then stopped. She pointed at the window. Joey and his little friend were peeking from behind a curtain in the living room.

He groaned as Mairead slung her bullet bag across her back. "Okay, here's the plan…"

Mairead quietly snuck in the backyard porch door as Blaine loudly opened and slammed the front door. "Hey, Joey! Mom just called, she's coming home in five minutes!" He heard rustling from behind the fake palm tree near the door. Blaine shot three bullets, and to his dismay, it was Joey's remote control car. Dammit, he thought. Suddenly, five bullets were streaking towards him. He rolled out of the way and heard the back door opening, Mairead was coming in. She was a dead accurate shot no matter where she was and if she was moving or not. Dodging, however, was a whole different story. It was like she could anticipate the shots coming at her before they were even shot. Blaine always wondered what she like playing tennis whether she was like that as well.

"Gotcha! Take that you little bugger!" Blaine shouted as he shot a bullet over his shoulder.

"Uh, Blaine, that was me." Mairead said with a deadpan voice, and a bullet kinda in the middle of her forehead.

Blaine burst out laughing; he thought he would never see the day when he actually hit Mairead with some kind of projectile.

Suddenly, the two were bombarded with foam bullets from above. The duo shot only two bullets each, one into each of their attackers' eyes. Bingo, Blaine thought devilishly has he heard two people groan in pain.

The door opened out in came two people that Blaine thought would be home in another two hours. He stared in horror.


	2. Perfect

**Sorry for the long wait! Life happened and I'm struggling through. Next chapter will be up later this week for sure! And reviews are like chocolate for me! Please review!**

Blaine stared coldly at Matthew Anderson, his religion loving father, and Miranda Anderson, his weak, but loving mother. "Hello, Father." He said coolly.

Joey ran down the stairs and stood in front of his big brother. "I called him to see if could come home because I miss him and I'm getting lonely because he's at Dalton all the time. I also wanted to have 'nother Nerf war with him…" He trailed off with his head lowered.

Matthew sighed, "Joey, go and tell your friend to go home. It's getting close to dinnertime. Your mother and I will have conversation with you later about this." He turned to look at Mairead's steely black eyes and ramrod straight posture. She supported Blaine no matter what it cost her, and defended him with her life. So when she knew Blaine was gay and heard how his father reacted, she was in a fit of rage; Mairead wanted rip Matthew's throat out and send him to hell, Blaine barely contained her.

"Get home, Mairead. Your mother might be expecting you." Matthew showed her the door out.

Mairead turned her back to Matthew and quickly grabbed Blaine in one of her famous "choke you to death hugs." "Call me, tonight by eight or I will start throwing rocks at your window" she mumbled into his ear. She then turned so fast around that her long, beautiful jet-black hair nearly slapped him across the face. As she walked out, she caught Matthew's eye and gave him a glare as she nodded respectfully at Miranda.

Matthew slammed the door shut. He turned to look at Blaine, who was starting to carry his backpack up to his room. "You have two days to spend with your brother. Every time you visit Joseph, you will keep the door open and inform me or your mother that you are talking to him. You are free to leave the house at any time." Matthew told Blaine sternly and coldly.

"Fine. As long as Joey stays happy." Blaine spoke to his father with bitterness prominent in his voice. Matthew walked into the kitchen muttering something about a bottle of wine in the fridge. Joey ran up the stairs to his room with tears in his eyes.

Miranda sighed and came to give Blaine a hug. "How have you been, honey? Joey misses you and so does Mairead. You should have seen how many times last month he cried when he missed you so much."

Blaine sighed; he missed his brother as much as Joey did. "I know, but I'm not coming home that often if you and Dad won't accept me for who I am. And I am gay. Nothing can change that mom. It makes me angry and sad that you and Dad won't." Blaine sighed.

"And it makes me think that you're telling us this because you don't want to go to Mass anymore. We can get you help, Blaine. I just think that you're confused and if you talk with Pastor Robbins, he can make you less confused and more confident about yourself! Just listen to me, Blaine!" Miranda said urgently as they could both hear Matthew walking heavily back towards the two of them.

Blaine looked coldly on the man he called his father. "I'm going to talk to Joey and leave the door open." He walked quickly up the stairs to Joey's room before his father could respond. "Hey, Joe-schmoe. How ya doin'?" Blaine grinned as he ruffled Joey's hair.

Joey slapped his hand away. "I'm hanging in there. Dad's getting increasingly difficult. School's going well, can't wait until I go to Dalton next year for freshman year. Speaking of which, how's Dalton doing for you?" he asked.

Blaine walked over Joey's desk and grabbed a pad of paper and a pen before plopping down on the bed with his brother who was three years his junior.

_I want to tell you something that I don't want mom and dad to hear right now, so let's just talk about uninteresting things while we write the real conversation down. _

"Dalton's going great, Warbler songs are awesome this year. We're singing Raise Your Glass by P!nk for regionals." Blaine said in a falsely cheerful voice while Joey scrawled on the pad.

_What is it?_

"Sweet, I love P!nk! What other songs are you guys doing this year? I really hope you guys are going to do Green Day. Boulevard of Broken Dreams seems like something you guys could accomplish with and acapella choir." Joey said for as long as possible as Blaine frantically wrote.

_I HAVE A BOYFRIEND. His name is Kurt Hummel and I love him so freaking much. He came to Dalton a couple of weeks ago after the bullying threats at McKinley became too much. Kurt was spying on us… badly. We've been good friends and stuff, but until he sung "Blackbird" for Pav's death, did I realize that we were meant for each other, AND WE KISSED._

Joey's eyes were huge, _Holy crap, did I really freak him out that much that his eyes are the size of one of Kurt's moisturizing pads for his face?_ He thought. "Yeah, I'll suggest Green Day to the council when I go back. I don't think Boulevard of Broken Dreams is going to be popular, though… Wes usually shoots downs songs that have electric guitar parts in them." Blaine rambled as Joey wrote furiously across the page. "What other songs do you think we can do? Do you think I should suggest a country song? I personally think we should do Taylor Sw –" Blaine tried to say before the pad was shoved into his face.

_WHAT? DO YOU KNOW HOW DAD'S GOING TO REACT? I'M SERIOUSLY HAPPY FOR YOU; BUT DUDE, DAD'S GOING TO GO FREAKING NUTS ON YOU. Mom might be good with it, but I doubt it, she always sides with dad… Have you told Mairead and Lauren?_

Blaine sighed, he forgot about his sister who was a year younger and went to The Madeline Thames Academy for Extraordinary Young Women in Clovis, California. She went there to escape the religious tirades of their father and church of how God better than everything and created everything crap. Lauren was agnostic and didn't want to hear of it anymore, so she looked up the academy online and saw how far it was away from Ohio.

Joey hopped off the bed and turned on the music to one of Green Day's songs. He then went right next to Blaine on the bed and whispered to him instead of writing on the pad. "What do you think dad and mom are going to do if you tell them?"

Blaine contemplated all the possibilities. "Probably tell me to get the hell out of this house and never come back. That's the worst that he might do to me… And when that happens, Joey, always know that I love you no matter what." He whispered passionately to him

"Ewwww, Blaine!" Joey grinned while ducking his brother's incoming grab to put him in a headlock. As Blaine started chasing him around the room they both a quiet "eh-hem" and saw their father in the doorway looking suspiciously at Blaine.

"Dinner's ready. Come down in five minutes… when you've dressed appropriately." Matthew looked pointedly at Blaine in his undone Dalton tie and pink neon green socks.

Blaine stiffly got up and was on his way to his room when Matthew stopped him. "I expect you to take part in the pre meal prayer as well." Blaine nodded.

Dressed in a dark red polo shirt and a clean pair of khakis with black dress socks, Blaine knocked on Joey's door. He opened the door and both of them went down for dinner. Joey was silent on the way down to the table. They were both dreading what and how Blaine was going to tell both their parents. _Should I do after dinner during desert or right at the beginning after everyone has eaten a little bit first? _ Blaine thought nervously.

They both sat down right next to each other at the table and said the prayer, or at least Joey, Matthew, and Miranda did. Blaine clasped his hands together, bowed his head, and pretended to pray; instead thinking of song lyrics to give him courage.

"Amen." Matthew said. Blaine looked up and saw that his family was finishing doing the sign of the cross on their body, though Joey did so a little grudgingly. Blaine took in a deep breath and smiled to his mother who was passing him the mashed potatoes.

Miranda initiated the conversation. "So Blaine, how goes Dalton? I expect you've been getting good grades and getting nearly every solo for the Warblers." She smiled at him.

He smiled nervously back. _It's now or never._ "Things have been going great. There have been a couple of new students trying out for the Warblers, so it's been a pain in the neck to try and sort them out. Some of them are convinced they are the best singers and should take over the solo when they can't even sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star in tune. I swear, it made half our ears bleed… But there was this one boy who was the best that we've seen. He's a countertenor named Kurt Hummel." Blaine said in a rush.

Miranda handed him the turkey. "Really, what so special about him?" She looked curiously at Blaine.

Joey snuck him a glance as he prepared himself mentally for what he was about to tell his parents. "Mom, Kurt is amazing. He has an amazing range that we really could use in an acapella choir to do more songs. Kurt is also gay. He transferred over from McKinley High School after death threats because of his sexuality. And just last week - " Matthew pounded the table suddenly.

"Are you saying that this Kurt is gay AND in the Warblers?" He looked furious. Blaine could feel the tension in the air.

"Yes, and we kissed, Father. I said right there. WE KISSED." Blaine said defiantly. Both of them were on their feet at this point. Blaine could see the anger building up in Matthew's eyes.

He did not expect the following reaction though, through the plate that was thrown at his face with food on it. Miranda and Joey looked on in horror. The plate broke and Blaine staggered back, blood gushing from his cheek and forehead.

Matthew walked away from the table and stormed out the door. "Joey, go upstairs with you brother and help him clean up. I'll clear the mess down here. You might want to support him, he looks a little unsteady." Miranda said quietly and sadly.

Blaine cleared his eyes of the mashed potatoes and gravy angrily and stomped his way upstairs. He turned the water on and grabbed the wash cloth to wipe the food and blood off while throwing insults at his father under his breath. " –er do this to their own son. He needs mental help as well as a huge wake up call. Not my fault I was born this way. What else do I need invade my freaking life this week? Another plate thrown in my face or what? Gah." He looked down at his hands; they were covered up in blood from his face and small cuts from throwing the broken pieces of the ceramic plate down.

Joey stayed mostly quiet, watching his brother fuming and clean himself up. He wondered why their father would do this.

Blaine looked at his face in the mirror; it was covered in cuts from the fork and knife that was on the plate as well the broken plate. His nose looked crooked as well. It also didn't stop bleeding.

"Dammit. Joey, can you go down and get an ice pack for me? And gauze if we have some in the medicine cabinet?" Blaine said to Joey quietly. Joey nodded and ran quickly down the stairs.

Blaine's cell phone rumbled on the counter next to him. _ One new message from: KURT HUMMEL._ Blaine pressed the button that said read later. Another message popped up; _Three missed calls from: KURT HUMMEL._ Wonder what it could be, Blaine thought. He was just opening up the messages when Matthew came into his sight.


	3. Firework

**This is what happens when I get reviews! I upload super-duper fast! Thank you guys for all the reviews! I'll actually be able to upload the next one later tomorrow, I promise! Now down to business, this chapter mainly focuses on Joey with some Blaine in it. And also on a serious note, if you are being abused by your parents or family members, just remember, you're not alone. Feel free to inbox me if you need to talk. Thank you guys so much, again!**

Blaine stared angrily at Matthew, with blood still running down from his face. Matthew gazed coldly at Blaine before walking into the master bedroom and slamming the door shut. Seeing the blood that was slowly dripping down into the pure white marble sink, Blaine quickly set down his phone and snatched up the damp washcloth on the side and shoved it to his nose while muttering profanities under his breath. Loud stomping noises could be heard right outside the bathroom, Joey was coming up. Joey handed him the big bag of ice with wide eyes at all the blood all over the sink, counter, and the little bit on the floor.

Blaine sighed, how was he going to explain this to him? "Thanks, Joe-shmoe." Blaine smiled. "Come in and close the door, will you? I need you to help me with something." Joey nodded and closed the door gently. Blaine went over the speaker on the wall which in reality was a radio with an iPod cord. He plugged in his brand new iTouch with the camera on the back and turned on the camera. Blaine also set the music to repeat on Katy Perry's Firework and blasted the volume all the way up. He grabbed Joey by the shoulder and somewhat yelled into his ear: "I need you to help me set my nose back in place. I think it got broken by the plate. So I'm going to close my eyes and you do it whenever you can. I just don't want to see it being done…" Joey's jaw dropped. Are you serious, Blaine? Joey thought.

Blaine saw his expression and nodded encouragingly at him. He leaned over the sink and closed his eyes, focusing on the lyrics.

_Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon_

_It's always been inside of you, you, you_

_And now it's time to let it through_

_Cause baby you're a firework_

_Come on show 'em what your worth_

_Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"_

_As you shoot across the sky-y-y_

_Baby you're a firework_

_Come on let your colors burst_

_Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"_

_You're gunna leave 'em goin "Oh, oh, oh!"_

Joey counted to three mentally and quickly put his fingers on Blaine's nose bridge and jerked quickly when he heard the word burst. He felt the bone cartilage snap back into place; Joey felt faint but not as faint as Blaine as he nearly fell over. Joey had to support him to keep him standing so he slowly guided him over the bathtub and saw Blaine's jaw slowly stretching open. The next second came an agonizing scream. Blaine was in total agony, with him retching up what little he ate, screaming bloody mary, and more blood running down his nose.

Joey looked on worriedly. If the blood comes down faster than it already was, he might need a transfusion. Blaine continued screaming for the next three minutes, with Joey stuffing a towel in front of his mouth when the song ended so Matthew couldn't hear; he took the towel away when the song started up again. Blaine slowly felt the pain slowly ebbing away; he started to focus more on the lyrics.

_You don't have to feel like a waste of space_

_You're original, cannot be replaced_

_If you only knew what the future holds_

_After a hurricane comes a rainbow_

_Maybe you're reason why all the doors are closed_

_So you can open one that leads you to the perfect road_

_Like a lightning bolt, your heart will blow_

_And when it's time, you'll know_

_You just gotta ignite the light_

_And let it shine_

_Just own the night_

_Like the Fourth of July_

Soon Blaine started dry heaving as the pain subsided into a residual throb and the blood from his nose finally stopped with an occasional drop or two of blood. Blaine felt tired, mentally and physically. His brother slowly leaned Blaine back into his chest and somewhat dragged him across the floor and laid him down on the bathroom carpet using the towel as a pillow as he was losing consciousness. Joey quietly opened the bathroom door, closed it, and went down to the kitchen to grab some pudding, fruit juice and the jar of ibuprofen. Miranda saw all this out of the corner of her eye but said nothing, instead focusing on washing the dishes.

Joey quickly ran up the spiral staircase, nearly tripping twice. He quickly opened and closed the door. Blaine was just where he left him, though he was mumbling in his pain-induced sleep now. Biting his lip, Joey gently shook Blaine's shoulder to wake him up and get him to eat. _He's so pale. How much blood did he lose? Should I tell Mom? Call 911? Think, Joseph, THINK._ Joey thought as he stared at his brother's pale face and still bleeding gashes. He quickly retrieved more paper towels and pressed them to Blaine's face. Suddenly, Joey snapped his head and his jaw dropped.. He stopped trying to wake Blaine up and dashed across their huge bathroom to the door that connected his bedroom to the bathroom and Blaine's bedroom.

_ Wait a sec._ He quickly ran back and locked the door connecting the room to the hallway incase their parents wanted in. Joey also locked the lock that he and Blaine secretly installed the summer before incase the first lock failed. He then went into Blaine's bedroom and locked his door, too. Joey then ran to his room and got out his first aid kit and secret granola bar stash from under his bed and quickly walked back into the bathroom as his arms were full of supplies. After depositing everything in the empty and dry bathroom sink, he then ran back into his room and locked both of his locks and got out his extra blanket, sleeping bag, and an extra pillow from his closet. Joey let him sleep for another half hour until he was going to wake him up. "Blaine, wake up." He said softly.

Blaine was slowly coming to, his eyes were fluttering and he was moving his fingers and feet. Joey saw this happening and ran to his side on the floor. He had never been happier to see him awake. "Hey." Joey said, his voice quivering.

"H-ey, Joe-" Blaine started to say until the pain got to him and he started to arch his back and grit his teeth in response to the pain in his nose and face.

"Blaine, you're okay, you're okay! You're in the bathroom with just me! I locked all the doors, they can't get in!" Joey quickly said as he saw his brother's broken body. "Blaine, open your eyes. Just open your eyes and look at me. Look at me!" Joey blurted out, thinking of nothing else. Blaine slowly opened his eyes and focused on Joey, the song that was still playing was bringing him back to reality.

_Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin_

_Like a house of cards_

_One blow from caving in_

_Do you ever feel already buried deep_

_Six feet under scream_

_But no one seems to hear a thing_

_Do you know that there's still a chance for you_

_Cause there's a spark in you_

Joey opened a pouch of pudding and grabbed one of the spoons he brought up; he set in on the floor beside Blaine. "Come on, let's get you up for a bit. Let's get you sitting against the wall. I've got pudding for you." Joey said soothingly to Blaine. He murmured an affirmative, trying to wake up more.

Sliding his arm under Blaine's back, he slowly raised his brother to a near sitting position and let him lean against the wall. Joey retrieved the pudding and sat next to Blaine. "Here, I got your favorite flavor, tapioca." He offered.

Blaine slowly took the pudding from his little brother's hand and nodded thanks to him. The pudding went down smoothly and coolly to his empty stomach. He groaned in delight as the pudding hit his stomach. His head throbbing, he reached out and grabbed his cell phone that Joey had placed next to him. Blaine made a turning motion with his hand. Joey didn't get it until he muttered "too loud…music."

Joey walked over and turned down the volume, but on second thought as he was walking back, he went and unplugged the iTouch. Blaine opened his hand and Joey placed the iTouch in it. He turned off the camera and saved the video, hoping to show it to Kurt one day.

KURT! Blaine jumped, forgetting all the texts and missed calls. He then regretted jumping as his nose started to trickle blood again. Joey was prepared, he handed Blaine a wad of paper towels. Blaine blinked and suddenly felt a stinging in his eye. _Damn, the gashes._ He put a hand to his forehead and felt the hot blood. Joey saw the blood and the empty pudding container next to Blaine. "Here," Joey handed him a bottle of apple juice and two pills. "Knock those back and we'll get the gashes cleaned up. Let's just hope they won't require stitches." Joey said to Blaine. He nodded as he was drinking the juice with his clean hand.

Once he was finished, Joey came back with a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a tube of Neosporin. "Can you stand, Blaine?" He asked. Blaine tried to make himself stand. "Woah, not good, stars just appeared." He groaned.

"Great, we're going to have to this in the bathtub then. And we'll need your shirt off. Lemme help." Blaine gritted his teeth in pain as the shirt touched his nose and one of the gashes.

Joey helped his brother into the tub and made him lean against his leg as he adjusted the temperature of the water from the removable shower head. "Okay, lean your head back, Blaine. This might hurt for a bit." He washed the blood off his brother's face and tried to be as gentle as he could.

During this, Blaine was drifting in and out of consciousness. He could feel Joey's hands on his hands and chest as he cleaned off the blood. He could feel his brother slowly getting him out of the bathtub and back on to the dry and fluffy rug. Joey was saying something but he couldn't focus on the words. Blaine then wanted to go back to sleep but Joey was going to say something about alcohol and Kurt. _Kurt, how the hell am I going to tell you about this…_ He thought.

Joey readied a cotton ball that was already soaked in alcohol. He touched to Blaine forehead and squeezed it so that the alcohol went into the wound. Blaine gritted his teeth but didn't scream. "I know it hurts! But this helps!" _That medical camp I went to last summer is really helping right now._ Joey thought. He finished up and put some of those clear bandages on the gashes in his face, but not the ones he just discovered on his collarbone and upper chest. Those one didn't seem to be too deep. Joey sighed in exhaustion, now it was time to see if he could get Blaine into his room and on the bed.

"Hey, wake up. Do you think you can make it to a bed to sleep in? Blaine?" Joey said softly. Blaine stirred a bit and mumbled " mmkno, not… safe… stay here." Joey sighed. "All right then, let me get the sleeping bag out." Joey unrolled his super comfy and super warm sleeping bag that Miranda brought for him when he went on the school camping trip last month when he had to go up to Minnesota for his advanced botany class. He gently slid Blaine into the bag and put the pillow under his bruised and battered head and chest. Joey got himself Blaine's not-as-nice-but-still-pretty-good sleeping bag out of his brother's closet, turned off two of the lights so that only the one farthest away from them was on. He checked on Blaine one last time and saw that he was shivering so Joey took the extra blanket and covered him with it. He wanted to go and get the thermometer out of the other bathroom but then thought of Miranda and Matthew. He had heard some nasty shouting outside the door earlier and still thinks that they still are shouting. Joey went back and locked both of the bathroom doors so that no one could get in. He slid into his own sleeping bag and nearly zonked out, but before that he said so quietly that he didn't think Blaine could hear him, "Blaine, I love you so much. Good night." And went to sleep.

But Blaine did hear. And he smiled at his Joe-shmoe.


	4. Candles

**Hi guys! Thank you for all the reviews! This chapter will focus mainly on Mairead and her point of view. And as always, call 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) if you are being abused by family members. Thank you guys again!**

Mairead was waiting for Blaine's phone call that night but felt something was wrong. It wasn't like Blaine to wait awhile before calling her; he was usually very organized and returned call right away… unless something happened. She knew that Blaine was gay long before he told his parents or even before he himself recognized it. Her brother Nick was gay and told her before their parents; thankfully, their parents accepted him for who he is and not pushed him away. Coming from a non-religious family helped, she herself was agnostic, Nick was atheist, and her parents came from Catholic families but didn't like church that much so they stopped going.

Brushing her hair, she thought of Miranda and Matthew. They both were the best parents to Blaine, Joey, and Lauren. Miranda always made cookies everyday when they came home from school and Matthew would take them on trip to Lake Michigan to go boating in his friend's private yacht. They were the perfect family, until Blaine came out when he was tenth grade; then things started getting worse, much worse. It all started with a shouting match between Matthew, Blaine, and Lauren. Miranda and Joey fled the house and sought refuge in Mairead house right next door.

Mairead sighed, she remembered the day well. Her mother and her were just finishing doing the dishes and joking around when she heard a loud knock at the door.

_"Done yet, slowpoke? I could run around the house faster than you can wash that one last dish." Her mother smiled._

_ Mairead smiled mischievously as she reached for the bottle of dish soap, opened the nozzle, and was going to squir-_

_ Three loud knocks could be heard from the door. She looked at her mother and ran down the stairs the main foyer. She was surprised by Miranda and Joey in her doorway looking terrified. _

_ "Please, can we stay here for the night? Matthew is out of control after Blaine told us his news." Miranda said breathlessly while rubbing Joey's arm as he was crying and clinging to his mother._

_ Mairead's mother took one look and dashed up the stairs to ready the guest bedroom for the two of them. "Of course you can. Here let's go in the kitchen and we can talk. You okay, Joey?" Mairead looked him worriedly, seeing him tremble and tear streaks down his face. She nodded and turned her head while biting her lip. "Hey Dad, can you come in here for a minute? I need you to talk to Miranda and Joey. I need to do something for a bit." As soon as her father was in the kitchen, Mairead grabbed her cell phone and her pepper spray that Nick had gotten for her a few months ago._

_ She raced next door and heard the loud thumps coming from within the house. The door was unlocked and she entered cautiously, looking at all the debris around the door. There wasn't too much, just shoes and jackets strewn around. _

_ "YES, I'M GAY, DAD. ACCEPT IT. YOU CAN'T CHANGE ME." Blaine yelled at a red faced Matthew. He had his arms at the ready in case Matthew decided to throw anything else at him; Blaine already had cuts on his arms from protecting himself. Lauren was in the middle of the two of them, she also had cuts on her hands and arms but they were minor cuts; Blaine had large lacerations._

_ "What the bloody hell is going on here?" Mairead yelled._

She could never forget that day. It was so terrible seeing Blaine so broken and betrayed at the man he loved and called his father. Mairead call the authorities after seeing the enraged look on Matthew and she pepper sprayed him when she said that she was with Blaine and he attacked her. Matthew was charged with nothing but a citation for disorderly conduct, but of course, he bribed the judge to let him have a lower charge.

It was now 12:04 AM and Blaine still hadn't called. Mairead started to call him three times in a row hoping that at least one of those times he would actually be able to feel his Android's vibrations. Still nothing. _Geez, sleep heavy Blaine?_ Mairead thought as she yawned. She started to call Joey. She was surprised when he answered on the first ring.

"Hello? Joey? Where's Blaine?" She asked him.

She could barely hear him as he was whispering into his phone. "Something happened, can you come in through my window? I'll let my fire ladder down. Can you bring a thermometer? I'm scared that Blaine's running a fever." He said in a hurry.

Mairead was wide eyed at this point. "Sure thing, where are you guys?"

"We're in our bathroom and both of our rooms are locked. I'll leave the door open to the bathroom from my bedroom. Can you get over here soon? I'm scared." Joey whispered tearfully.

"I'm already on my way."

She changed into her most favorite and worn jeans, t-shirt, and sweatshirt. On the way out, she left a note on her desk for her parents saying where she was and that she would call as soon as she could. Mairead quickly ran around the back of the Anderson's house and saw the fire ladder hanging down from Joey's third floor window. _Great, this might be painful…_ Mairead had had bad experiences with free hanging ladders when she was younger. She put her foot on the first rung and started to climb up. _ Okay, it's going well so far. Let's just this doesn't –_ and she promptly slipped and fell flat on her back three rungs into the ladder. _ I hate these bloody things. _She grumbled mentally as she got up and dusted off the back of her sweatshirt and jeans.

_Let's try this again. Maybe going fast might help?_ She quickly climbed the ladder without incident into Joey's sporty bedroom and ran for the open bathroom door. What she saw, however, was unbelievable.

Blaine was lying in a sleeping bag with an extra blanket on top near the bathtub with his shirt off. Mairead could see the swelling in his face where the gashes were; they were already turning blue and purple. She could also see the smaller cuts on his upper chest that were reddening up, looking like they were infected. His nose was crusted with dried blood and had ice around it.

Joey started crying when he saw Mairead open mouth. "I-I t-tried to do m-my best b-but I don't kn-know if he's going to be o-ok-kay." He hid his face in his hands. Mairead took his sobbing body and hugged him.

"Hey, you did great, kiddo. What you did for him was the right thing, okay? Because of you, he's going to be fine. You did awesome, Joey." She said quietly into his ear so as to not wake Blaine up. "Why don't you sleep in your own bed for a bit? I'll watch over Blaine, okay? You look exhausted." Joey nodded as he walked over to his bedroom.

Mairead sat down near Blaine and stroked his hair back from the cuts on his forehead. _Oh, Blaine. You shouldn't have to go through this. No one should._ She sighed. Just looking at him reminded her of the bullying she went through when she was in fifth and sixth grade. Because of that, she developed PTSD and has a hell of a time every time her mind decides to flashback to a horrible memory.

Blaine stirred the motion of her hand. He opened his eyes and saw her right above his face. He croaked, "Hey, what are you doing here?"

She smiled. "Looking after you of course. I heard you got into a little trouble." She took the thermometer out of her hoodie pocket. "Open up. Just want to check. Then maybe I'll be able to sneak you out and back to Dalton, and Kurt" Mairead waved the thermometer in front of his face. Blaine opened his mouth as she turned on the thermometer and then promptly fell asleep again. The thermometer beeped, it read 100.2 degrees. _Not too bad, probably because he's cold._ Mairead checked his bandages and saw they weren't too blood soaked yet.

Blaine started mumbling, "A-All the games you played. The promises you made –"

Mairead started singing with him. "Couldn't finish what you started. Only darkness still remains." She felt a tear going down her face.

He continued mumbling lyrics to Hey Monday's Candles. "Been black and b-blue before. There's n-no need to e-explain."

"I am not the jaded kind. Playback's such a waste" Mairead tearfully sang. Blaine finally drifted off to sleep. She tucked him in and made sure that the blanket was covering him. His phone started rumbling with a message: _New Text Message from: KURT HUMMEL_

She thought it couldn't hurt to read it. Blaine had told her about Kurt via email a few days earlier. Mairead pressed _Read Now_ on the phone.

_To: Blaine Anderson_

_From: Kurt Hummel_

_Hey, why haven't you answered my texts or calls? I'm getting worried. TEXT ME NOW, BLAINE ANDERSON OR I WILL HIDE YOUR GUITAR WHEN WE GET BACK ON MONDAY._

_Love you, by the way. _

_K_

Mairead smiled, it was typical Kurt fashion. She could tell they loved each other so much.

The sun was peaking through the clouds and shining into Joey's window. Mairead sent a text to her mom, saying that she'll be home later. That she's hanging out with Blaine and Joey and hope that they believe it. She wants to get Blaine out of the house and get him either to Dalton or Kurt's house.

Blaine slowly woke up. He was disoriented until he saw Mairead sitting by him on his phone. She was so preoccupied with texting Kurt that he should meet them at Dalton with his mom, who was a ER nurse, in Blaine's room. Blaine slowly snuck a hand out of the sleeping bag and was just about to tickle her sides until she said, "Not so fast, Anderson. You know I could hear you waking up right? You always crack your toes whenever you wake up." _Dammit, _he thought.

Mairead scooted over to the sleeping bag. "Here, let me help you up before you hurt yourself. You really got yourself into a mess, you know that?" She sighed.

Unzipping the sleeping bag, she saw Blaine's chiseled chest and abs. She smothered a snicker, when had he been working out? He was the laziest person she knew. Mairead slipped her arms under his back and boosted him up to a forty-five degree angle and propped him on her lap.

Blaine groaned as he'd forgotten to tell both Joey and Mairead about the bruises on his back from fencing practice and trying to evade the Warblers' "fencing" practice; "fencing" meaning who ever can grab the fireplace pokers and duel with them. Unfortunately, Wes used Blaine as the scapegoat and gave him the poker because he didn't want to duel with David.

As she heard him groan, she looked around his body for something she touched and saw the bruises. Mairead cocked an eyebrow at him but didn't say anything.

"Just, don't say anything to Joey, okay? I don't need him to worry about anything else. Can you get me back to Dalton? I don't want to stay here anymore." Blaine spoke to Mairead quietly as Joey was just waking up. She nodded and went to tell Joey the plan.

Blaine slowly worked on getting himself standing, hanging onto the tub side at first and then sitting on the tub side, then pulling himself up using the wall. He saw stars again right when Mairead reentered the bathroom and saw him falling. She caught him just in time when he muttered some profanities.

"Dude, next time you want to try to stand, call me will you? You're still weak from the blood loss, and by what Joey told me, you've lost way too much, my friend. I'm not surprised this happened. You can be a little reckless at times, you know that?" Mairead grunted as she hauled him up to a sitting position. "Joey went to get some clothes from your room and pack your bag. We're going to Dalton in ten minutes. And you are going to eat this and take these two pills." She handed him another pouch of pudding and two ibuprofen pills. Mairead set a glass of water on the floor besides him. Blaine nodded and started on the pudding.

Joey came back and smiled at Blaine. "Here, I got you jeans and a t-shirt. Need anything else from your room? I packed your bag with the usual stuff you need, snacks, books, underwear." Joey grinned at the last item and then ducked at the incoming empty pudding pouch.

Mairead came back. "Hey ready to go? I have my car out front with the engine running, we'd better go now." Blaine nodded.

"Hey, Mairead? Where's my phone?" He inquired. She froze in her steps, thinking of an answer.

"It's out in the car, I made sure that I locked the doors so that Matthew can't get in and snoop around." She looked at Joey. "You get one arm, I'll get the other?" He nodded. Mairead grabbed his right arm and put it around her neck while Joey did the same with the other. "You good? Dizzy at all?" She asked her best friend. He nodded with his eyes closed. "It's okay, we'll go slow, just one step at a time." Joey had made sure that the doors were open as they made their way down to the main foyer to the front door.

Just as they were at the bottom, Matthew came and saw them. He stared at Blaine for while, looking at the numerous gashes and his broken nose.

"What do you want, Dad?" Blaine said angrily. "I'm going back to Dalton, and I'm not going to call home when I get there. So don't even bother calling for anything." He blurted out. "Let's go." They continued out to the car and helped Blaine into the front seat. They were just about to leave the driveway when Miranda waved them down. Blaine rolled the window down.

"Blaine, sweetie. I'm so sorry for what happened. Please give your father a second chance, please?" She begged of Blaine.

"Sorry, but no. I'm not coming back anymore. Because of this. Good-bye Mom." Blaine rolled the window back up.

"Blaine, Blaine, BLAINE!" Miranda yelled from behind the speeding car.

He leaned back into the seat and seemingly fell asleep. Mairead looked in her rear view mirror back at Joey and saw the same view. She turned on the radio and turned the volume as to not wake them up. They had both had a hell of a night and both needed the sleep.

During the two hour ride to Dalton, Mairead had time to think of what she had to go through during her life with the relentless bullying and subsequent complications. Only Blaine knew of what happened during then and no one else, not even her parents. The bullying had taken a toll on her as she physically and mentally harmed herself in response to it. She, in fifth grade when she was only ten years old, had developed anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. It also didn't help that she whipped her own back with a belt buckle to deal with the pain. In sixth grade, she became so thin that one of the teachers finally noticed and became a mother to her because both of her own biological parents were going through with their own issues and didn't notice her that much. Now, she has flashbacks every time she's stressed out or something triggers it. Especially when she sees someone else being bullied or made fun of, even if it is just for fun.

They finally arrived at Dalton and saw Kurt's big black SUV in the parking spot right next to them. Since the windows were tinted, none of them knew that Kurt and Carol were in the car.

Kurt was nervous on the way to Dalton; this girl, Mairead, didn't disclose the details of what happened to Blaine. Only that he was to meet her, Blaine, and Joey at Dalton with Carol.

"Hey, what wrong, honey?" Carol said nervously as they reached the student parking lot. She had seen Kurt be distant the whole way to Dalton and seemed tense when they parked and waited for Blaine.

Kurt sighed. "It's just that… I'm worried. Blaine doesn't have parents like you and Dad. His father is a Catholic idiot who can't seem to pull his head out of his Bible long enough to see that being gay is okay. And – Oh my Gaga! There he is!" Kurt opened the door quickly and went to see a female about Blaine's height and a younger boy supporting him.

Blaine could feel Mairead's hand gently shaking him awake. "Come on, Blaine. We're at Dalton. Let's get you inside." He groaned, first in weariness then hissed in pain. The pills wore off already and the pain was getting to him. Not to mention that he was incredibly dizzy from the bumps in the road.

She sighed. "Joey, you got his bag?" He nodded, fully awake and opening his door. Mairead got out of her tricked out orange 2011 Honda Accord and went to the other side to help Joey support Blaine. She was just getting his arm around her head when she heard a scream.

"BLAINE!" Mairead saw a taller boy with a somewhat gelled hair barreling towards them. She quickly twisted her body in front of Blaine to protect him.

"Who the hell are you?" She didn't trust anybody at this point after what she went through with Blaine.

The boy took a step back. "I-I'm Kurt. You're Mairead, right? You're the one that texted me this morning. And told me that Blaine was hurt." He said nervously. The woman behind him gripped the boy's shoulder gently. "And this is Carol, my step-mother. She's an ER nurse."

Mairead sighed. This was good, then. "Yes, I'm Mairead. And this is Joey, his younger brother. Can you help us to his dorm room and Joey'll explain what happened. I'm not too sure myself on what happened." Kurt nodded.

"We can take a shortcut to the dorms." He showed them the way and they all walked quickly towards Blaine's room.

**So, what did you guys think? Am I keeping this interesting or am I boring you guys? What did you guys think of the length? Too short, too long? Keep in mind that it's not supposed to be exactly realistic… there will be some things that will extremely realistic but some parts will not. And can anyone guess who Mairead is? Thank you guys so much for reading, and please review! Any and all (positive) reviews make my day and motivate me to write! By the way, I'm going to start to put the day that I upload each chapter at the bottom so you know what I did update this story.**

**4-6-11  
**


	5. Freaking Perfect

Kurt slammed the door open to Blaine's single room, holding the door open for Mairead and Joey. Blaine was again passed out from all the movement and he was bleeding through the bandages on his forehead and blood started to slowly trickle down his nose. After settling him on the bed, Carol took charge.

"Kurt, get me the gauze and the thermometer, he feels a little too warm for comfort." Carol ordered him. Kurt got out the supplies she needed from her messenger bag.

"Hey Kurt, I think I can help out with Carol and Blaine. Joey wants to talk to you right now. About this." Mairead spoke to Kurt quietly, as to not wake up Blaine. He nodded and went out the door to talk with Joey.

"What you know about this, um… Mairead is it?" Carol asked as she snapped on latex-free gloves and gently peeled back the clear bandages Joey had put on the night before. They both hissed at what they saw. The wound was an angry red and purple streak across his forehead with pus oozing out around the edges. The ones on his cheek and temple were also looking infected, red, and shiny.

"Mmgh, wha'… wha's going on?" Blaine mumbled as his eyes fluttered open. He woke up from the pain and grimaced at the hammer pounding on his head. Blaine tried to breathe through his nose but found that it hurt too much. He started to move to sit up but Mairead held him down by his shoulders.

"Hey, not so fast, Anderson. We're trying to clean out your cuts. Hate to say it, but you're going to be in serious pain for the next few hours." She told him. His eyes were wide open at this point.

Carol came to his rescue. "But if you want, I can give you a sedative. It'll knock you out for a few hours. Do you want that?" Blaine nodded and held up a finger.

"O-on one con-condition," He spoke hoarsely as the pain was getting too much. Mairead saw this and offered her hand to him. Blaine grabbed it and crushed her hand, she didn't say anything; he was scared of the incoming needle and his memories. Blaine had always had bad memories that came back whenever someone put him out with medication, much like her.

"I want K-Kurt in here, too. Before you put me to s-sleep." He said to Mairead with tears in his eyes. She looked at him with such sympathy; he was always the strongest one of the two of them. It hurt her so much to see him suffering.

She nodded. "'Kay, I'll go and get him; but you need to let go of my hand so I can get him, okay?" Mairead gently pried open his hand to get Kurt. Carole took up the empty hand and murmured soothing words. She ran to the door and ran down the hall to the room where Joey and Kurt were. Kurt had tears in his eyes that were threatening to spill over, Joey was in his arms and bawling his eye out on Kurt's Marc Jacob jacket; Kurt didn't care at that point.

"Hey," she said gently while touching Kurt's shoulder. "He's asking for all of us, Carol's going to give him a sedative to help him sleep while we clean him up." He nodded as Joey dried up his tears on his hoodie sleeves.

"Courage, Joey. Did you know those were the words he said to me when I first came here? Now, I'm saying it to you because you are such a brave young man and the best brother anyone can have. Okay?" Kurt spoke to Joey.

Once in the room, Kurt immediately put a gentle hand to his cheek as Blaine snapped his eyes open in panic. "Hey, hey. I'm here, Blaine. I'm not going to let anything else hurt you." Kurt spoke to Blaine in such a loving way. Mairead took Blaine's hand from Carole and nodded to her. Carole readied the needle with the sedative.

"I know it's scary, Blaine. But, courage. Just like you told me when I first met you, remember?" Kurt whispered to him.

"B-But the memories, the pain, I-I don't w-want t-t-to go b-back!" He started crying, his nose started hurting with the most intense pain so far; the mucus that was building up was aggravating the newly set cartilage. He started to try and push against Mairead's grip on his shoulder.

Mairead started singing, in her horrible voice that Blaine always made fun of, the last song that was on her iPod, signaling Joey to join in.

_Pretty pretty please, don't you ever ever feel_

_Like you're less than, less than perfect_

_Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel like you're nothing_

_You are perfect to me!_

Kurt joined in looking straight at Blaine's fear-stricken eyes. Mairead nodded to Carole who took the cap of the needle.

Joey and Kurt continued singing. "Carole, at flick of my fingers, inject the sedative." Mairead said as quietly as she could. Carole nodded.

Joey, Mairead, and Kurt crowded around the head of Blaine bed so he couldn't see the needle that was going to put him so sleep. Mairead rejoined the singing.

_You're so mean, when you talk about yourself, you were wrong_

_Change the voices in your head, make them like you instead_

_So complicated, look happy, you'll make it!_

_Filled with so much hatred, such a tired game_

_It's enough! I've done all I can think of_

_Chased down all my demons, I've seen you do the same_

Mairead cried at the last line of lyrics, it perfectly described what she and Blaine had gone through in their young lives. She squeezed his hand as she gave a thumb's up to Carole behind her back.

Blaine felt the needle sticking into his left deltoid muscle and a warm liquid spreading though out his body. He fought against the sedative long enough to mutter two words to Kurt.

"Kiss me." Kurt obliged as Blaine fell asleep. Mairead could feel Blaine's grip on her hand relaxing, the sedative was working.

"I think he's asleep now." Kurt said to Carole as he stroked back his curly, ungelled hair back from his angry forehead. "Do you two want to go? I can stay here with him. Go get lunch, it's about noon already."

Mairead nodded. "I'll be back, I'm staying the night with him too, if that's okay with you." Kurt nodded. "Hey, Joey, let's go home and get some stuff for an overnight trip, okay?" He hadn't taken his eyes off of his big brother since he had fallen asleep. "Joey? Let's go home, okay? Blaine'll be okay, you see? Carole's here and so is Kurt. He's going to be fine." Mairead tried to say to Joey without breaking into tears.

Carole looked at Joey as she discarded her gloves and replaced them with a fresh pair. "Mairead's right, I'll be done cleaning him up by the time you get back in two hours. Okay? I promise you that no one will enter this room again until you get back." She said kindly to him. Joey finally nodded and got off the bed and took Mairead's hand.

"I'll get the two of you food when we come back. You're veggie right, Kurt?" Kurt nodded, still stroking Blaine's hair back from his face.

"C'mon, let's go Joey." Mairead led him from the room and out to her car.

_Back in the room…_

"Kurt, I need your help. I know you don't like what I do but I can't do it alone." Carole said to him as she dug out numerous supplies from both of their bags. He nodded first gently taking the pillow out from behind Blaine head as he knew that that was the best way to treat head wounds.

**Sorry that it's kinda short today! I'm actually really busy today and this was all my brain could think of in an hour and a half! I promise tomorrow's chapter will be much longer! If you haven't noticed, the song that I use in the story is always the name of the chapter. This one was Perfect by P!nk, my most favorite song ever. Please review, and thank you so much for reading!**

**4-7-11**


	6. Jar of Hearts

Kurt climbed up on Blaine's queen mattress to help Carole with cleaning out the angry gash on his forehead. _What kind of sick father would do this to their own son?_ He asked himself mentally. Blaine had mentioned to him that Matthew had sent him camps to straighten him out every summer when they weren't in school. In the camps, he said, the "counselors" made him and all the other "campers" memorize two important quotes and made him repeat it five times every day; both quotes are from Leviticus.

_Blaine's Nightmare_

"_Say it Anderson, you know it's true. SAY IT AND GOD WILL FORGIVE YOU. God is great and forgiving, He will forgive you for this grievous sin!" The man yelled as he smacked the cane down on the ground besides the kneeling Blaine. _

_Blaine was crying out of anger and pain, the man had laid down rocks on the ground on which he kneeled. "No."_

_The man raised his cane to hit Blaine across his back. Blaine already had stripes across his ravaged back where he had been hit earlier that day and week. Some of the stripes were already healed, some were fresh. But the counselors were careful, they always hit gentler than they should as to not scar their backs._

_Blaine braced himself for the incoming blow, he was getting used to the pain. The blow came and he nearly blacked out from it; it had hit on one of the cuts that was still fresh._

"_Fine." Blaine whispered, "Anything to stop the pain." He lifted his head and looked at the man straight in the face._

"_You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination." He took a shaky breath. "If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them." Blaine then blacked out._

_He woke up in an unfamiliar room filled crosses, pictures of Jesus, and Bible verses written across the walls. _

"Honey, can you and me the thermometer? I want to check his body temperature. He really does seem too hot for his own good." Kurt took the thermometer out of the bag still slung on his shoulder. Carole gently lifted Blaine's arm and inserted it in the crook between his body and arm and closed his arm, resting it at his side. A few seconds later, it beeped.

"Hm… 102.3 degrees. That's higher than what Mairead told me when she took it last." Carole looked at him worriedly. "He might be developing a fever or infection. I'll need to get an IV in him now…" She muttered to herself. "Kurt, can you stay here for a few minutes? I need to get more supplies from the car." Carole had made sure that all the cars in the Hudmel household had emergency supplies stashed in the trunks. She had also taught the boys how to insert an IV in an arm for fluids.

Kurt nodded. He was still on the bed with Blaine and was covering him up with a blanket when Carole stopped him.

"If he's running a fever, don't cover him up. Take his shirt off as gentle as you can and then cover him with a light blanket." She told him as she walked out the door with car keys in hand.

Taking off Blaine's shirt, his hand accidently rubbed against his chest and something came off and onto his hand. _What…? _ Kurt finished taking off his shirt and gently ran his fingers over the place where his hand touched. More of the substance came off. To Kurt it looked like a flesh-colored powder, make-up. He went to the bathroom and took a face cloth, wetted it with ice cold water, and went back to Blaine. He had started muttering about someone named Lance. Kurt ignored this and started wiping Blaine's chest down. More of the powder came off on the cloth and Kurt started feeling bumps under the washcloth. He was even more surprised when a line he was washing off took a sharp turn to the right while continuing up.

"F" Kurt muttered to himself. He then realized with a horrified expression. _Oh no, no, no, no. Please, gaga, don't let this be what I think it is. _ He quickly, but gently, washed off the rest of his left chest muscle and saw the discovery he never wanted to make. Written across Blaine Anderson's chest in scar tissue was "FAGGOT". Kurt dropped the washcloth and cried out in sorrow.

_Back with Joey and Mairead_

"Hey, buddy. Wake up, we're home." Mairead told Joey as she put her car in park in the driveway of her house. Joey yawned and looked around before dropping his eyes, remembering what had just happened. "Why don't we take the next forty-five minutes and gather our stuff, okay? I think we're going to want to stay with Blaine for more than a night. So, get your stuff that you'll need for, let's say three days, and meet me IN my house by one." She told him as she grabbed her cell phone. Joey didn't move; he was scared of what would happen if he went into his house by himself. "Hey, what's wrong?" She asked with concern.

His lip trembled. "I-I don't want to go into there. Not without you." Joey looked at her with tear-filled eyes. Mairead saw and looked out of her windshield with her eyes closed, trying to formulate a plan.

"Why don't you come with me for right now and I'll come with you when I'm done, okay? Maybe Nick'll want to play some CoD with you." She smiled. "C'mon, you little bugger."

Once she was out of the car, Mairead quickly sent a text to Nick saying _Code orange, play CoD with Joey._ Code orange was her way of saying quickly, "Blaine's in trouble". She opened the door leading from her garage to the house. Nick suddenly appeared in the doorway.

"Hey Joey!" Nick called cheerfully. "I got Black Ops set up in my room with root beer and chips stocked up! Wanna play?" Taking his hand and nearly dragging Joey up the stairs. Nick shared a brief glance with Mairead out of the corner of his light blue eyes. She nodded once as she walked towards the kitchen where her parents where.

Her mother and father were at the kitchen reading the newspaper and sipping coffee when she walked in. "Mairead! Where have you been?" Her mother shouted as she ran to hug her adopted daughter. Sarah, her mother, smothered her in a hug as Mairead broke down into sobs. "What's wrong, honey? Hm?" Sarah asked.

Mairead whispered, "Upstairs." Sarah understood and followed her daughter upstairs to her daughter's huge bedroom. "What happened? You can say it, honey. I'm not going to judge, okay?" She told her as they both plopped down on Mairead's cool neon green and pink blanket covering her queen bed. Sarah hugged her daughter tightly and lovingly as she recounted her tale of what happened to Blaine. Her heart broke as she told of how Blaine was now at Dalton and in pain.

"Tell you what, why don't you go and take a long hot shower, and I'll get your stuff ready, okay?" Mairead didn't respond, her eyes still closed. Sarah shook her gently and was nearly shocked as her daughter nearly punched her, she got her hands up in time to stop the punch. "Oh, honey." She whispered, knowing that she was in one of her flashbacks. Sarah muttered soothing words to her as she was struggling to come back to the present.

_Flashback to Mairead's memories_

"_Hey Ugly, come back here! I'm not finished talking with you, you fat Asian!" Mairead heard as she ran in the opposite direction of the white, popular girl who was taunting her._

_Mairead shouted as she was running, "What's your problem? Leave me alone!" She kept running until someone tripped her as she was nearly to the door that was leading into the school she once thought was heaven but was turning into hell. She skidded across the hot, black pavement; knees and hands scraped and bleeding, she had tried to get up but was forced back down by a girl's sandal on her back. _

"_Where do you think you're going?" _Where did she come from? _ Mairead thought as she saw her bully running towards her. _Oh, crap. Her twin._ She had tried to get up again. Someone had grabbed a chunk of her hair and she heard a snipping noise. The next second came with a shower of black strands coming down her face. Thankfully, a teacher had saw in the window what was happening and came to her defense, saying to the girls in a thunderous voice "GET BACK TO RECESS!" and tried to help her up, but she didn't need any. Mairead was furious, about her hair and her hands. She punched one of the girls in the neck, missing the back of her head. _

"_That's for what you've done to me, Nicole!" She continued throwing punches until – _

"MAIREAD, STOP. YOU'RE HERE NOW." Mairead "woke up" standing on her feet and her fists in Sarah's hands to stop her from punching her further. Sarah had managed to evade all of her punches.

"Where, where am I?" She asked the woman next to her sobbingly. She was so disoriented and confused.

Sarah didn't let go of her balled up hands in case she relapsed into another flashback. "Honey, it's me, Mom. It's April 2011. You're at home. With me, Dad, and Nick. Joey's here, too. Blaine is at Dalton with Kurt and Carole. He needs you." She let her daughter's fists go slowly as Mairead started to sway back and forth from exhaustion of the memory, it always drained her when she flashed back to a memory.

"Mom?" Mairead whispered. "I- I… What happened? I'm sorry. I'm so SORRY!" She ran to her mother, sobbing.

"Shh, it's okay. It wasn't real, you're here, now. You're here." Sarah guided her back to the bed and rocked her until her tears dried up. "Feel better?" She asked. Mairead nodded. "Why don't you go take a shower, okay sweetie? I'll grab something for you to eat when you get out." She kissed the top of her head.

"C-can you t-tell Dad? About Blaine? I want to talk to the two of you when I'm done with m-my shower." Mairead sniffled.

Sarah's heart filled with so much sorrow of what her daughter had to go through. "Okay, honey. I'll get him up here. Don't worry, I think Nick has Joey occupied. I can hear their shouting matches from hear about weapons and such." Sarah and Mairead smiled. "Go, and take that shower, okay?" She kissed her one last time.

Mairead gathered up fresh clothes and went into her own bathroom that was connected to her room. One look at her palms and knees confirmed that she was indeed back in the present as she could see the scars on her knees but not feel the pain. She got into the shower and let the warm rain flow over her as she calmed down. Mairead got out and looked at her back in the mirror, particularly at two scars on her shoulder blades. The first two self-inflicted wounds out of the many on her back. She had used one of her old belts and taken off the buckle until the little stick remained and hit herself on her back, telling herself that the girls were right and she was the one who deserved the consequences.

Mairead dressed and briefly dried her thick, black, Vietnamese hair until was just a little damp; the air would dry it on her way back to Dalton. She walked out into her room and her parents were talking softly on her bed. Jason, her father saw her walking towards him and he stood up, smothering her in a hug. Mairead did not cry as all her tears were dried up. He walked with her to the bed where Sarah gave her a bowl of white ice cream. "Coconut, your favorite, and I put a little bit of Nutella at the bottom. Just like you love." Sarah smiled.

"Honey," Jason started. "If you're going to be at Dalton for a couple of days, I want you to know that we support you, okay? The only thing is… I want you to call home at the end of each day to let us know how Blaine's doing." She nodded, still eating the creamy desert. " Do you need to have your car with you? Yes? I'll let the gas stations near Dalton know that you need gas, okay?" She nodded again, grateful that her dad was the CEO of the Shell Gas Stations in Ohio. "I'll load up your debit card with money, for both food and whatever else you need. Don't even think of trying to repay me, honey. I don't have all this money for nothing." Jason countered as she started to speak. "Joey doesn't have to go back to his house. I had Nick pack some of his clothes for him. Their close to the same height anyway, plus he already has too much clothing." Jason made a face at the idea of his son's closet. Mairead grinned; her brother had a bigger closet than she did.

She handed the bowl back to Sarah. "Thanks, Mom, Dad. I'll call everyday I'm there. And please, don't talk to the Andersons about this. I don't want Matthew to know where Blaine and Joey are. I'll take Joey back here on Monday when school starts up again after break." All three of Joey's, Blaine's, and Mairead's schools had the same schedule; she was thankful that all of them were on spring break right now.

Both of her parents looked at each other, conflicted in whether or not to respect her wish. "Only if he gets better by tomorrow and is talking to us on the phone, okay? Does he need a doctor? I can contact one of my friends to swing by Dalton to check on him." Sarah worked as a pediatric oncology doctor in one of the various hospitals around Dalton. Mairead shook her head as she helped her mom get some of her stuff into a big duffle bag of hers.

"I'll call if I need him, Kurt's mom is an ER nurse." Sarah and Jason looked relieved.

Jason hugged his beloved daughter close, "I'm proud of you. You know that, right? I'm so glad I adopted you from that orphanage all those years ago." He kissed her on the top of the head.

Sarah zipped up the bag and walked quickly from Mairead's room to their master bedroom and retrieved Mairead's debit card and her own Costco card. "Nick, Joey, come down stairs! And Nick, carry that bag down will you?" She yelled at her son as she jogged back into Mairead's room.

"Here, you go sweetie. Your debit card and my Costco card. Buy whatever you need for all… five? Of you at Dalton okay?" Jason shouldered Mairead's duffle bag as they went down the stairs to the garage. Joey and Nick were trying to play ninja, where you try to slap the other person's hands while evading them. She rolled her eyes.

"Hey, ready to go, Joe?" She smiled at Joey's face, the happiest she's seen him in the past few days. He nodded.

Each of her parents gave her and Joey a hug before they went inside. Nick stayed outside and hugged them last. He gave Joey, a bone crushing hug. As he was hugging his sister, she whispered into his ear, "Ask Mom and Dad what happened. They'll tell you, and I'll call you tonight." She gripped him tightly.

Nick said quietly into her ear, "Love you Mari." Her nickname from when she was younger. He let go and she went into the car, revved up the engine and left the garage. Nick stayed until he could no longer see her orange car. He turned and saw Matthew Anderson looking the same way from his window in his house, with an angry expression on his face.

_Back at Dalton_

Carole was just coming back from the car with her hands full of medical supplies when she saw Kurt sitting in a chair near Blaine, tears coming down his face.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" Carole became alarmed.

Kurt shook his head, instead standing up and turning down the blanket he had placed on Blaine so Carol could clearly see his chest. Her eyes opened wide, she didn't expect to see the word "FAGGOT" carved into her son's boyfriend's chest. She teared up but didn't cry.

"Oh, honey." She looked at Kurt as she spoke. He was crying silently as Carole put down the supplies and hugged him.

After a few minutes, he spoke. "Let's get his wounds clean. I want him to wake up soon." She nodded.

"Okay, I need you to get behind him on the bed. We need to elevate his head so I can stitch him up. But first, the IV; Blaine looks dehydrated and the saline and IV ibuprofen is going to help with the fever." She took his left arm out of the blanket and inserted a thin needle into the back of his hand after cleaning it with alcohol and numbing it with novicane, taping it down with clear adhesive medical tape. Carole then found a coat pole near his door and dragged it over to the bed so she could hang the two bags of fluids.

Kurt looked on silently until Carole called him over. "Get behind him and elevate his head? It's time to stitch him up." He nodded and climbed on the bed. Blaine looked so fragile, with bags under his eyes and the gash across his forehead. His nose was starting to look better, not as black and blue as before. Kurt shifted Blaine's body so that his head was resting on his lap. Carole started to take off the covering she had put on before she went to the car; it was nearly clean with minimal bloodstains on it.

The silence was killing Kurt, so he decided to lean over to Blaine's bedside table and plug in his iPod. He turned the volume down via remote as to not move so much and not to disturb Blaine or Carole. He sang along softly to Sam Tsui's over of Christina Perri's _Jar of Hearts_.

_Who do you think you are?_

_Runnin' round leaving scars_

_Collecting your jar of hearts_

_And tearing love apart_

_You're gonna catch a cold_

_From the ice inside your soul_

_So don't come back for me_

_Who do you think you are?_

_I hear you're asking all around_

_If I am anywhere to be found_

_But I have grown too strong_

_To ever fall back in your arms._

Just as he finished the lyrics, he heard a click of the door. There in the door way stood Joey and Mairead with dufflebags, sleeping bags, and food in hand. Kurt smiled; he was beginning to wonder where they were.

Mairead smiled. "Hey, how's he doing?" She asked putting the food on his desk and her duffle bag down.

Kurt opened his mouth to speak, but Carole interrupted him. "All finished stitching him up, now just to clean and bandage his other cuts." She said with noticing Mairead and Joey there. "You can put his head down now, Kurt. If you want to." Carole finally noticed the two of them standing behind her. "Oh, you're back already! That's perfect." She told them. "Kurt, why don't you go and eat, and Mairead can help. You look exhausted, honey." He nodded and Mairead took his place from behind Blaine's head.

"Thank you, Carole. For doing this, for everything." Mairead said to her in a grateful tone. She nodded and motioned for her to lean in close. Carole turned down the blanket so that she could clean Blaine's cuts on his collar bone and so Mairead could see his chest. "What do you know about his?" She pointed to the scar tissue.

Mairead shook her head; she knew but didn't want to tell either Kurt or Carole. "It's not my place to tell. You have to ask him when he wakes up." She nodded. Carole finished up quickly, the cuts were already very clean; all she needed to do was to place some of the clear and small butterfly strips across the cuts to keep them from separating as they heal or as Blaine moves. "There's some food over there on his desk, Carole. I got you a chicken sandwich with a fruit salad on the side." Carole nodded, snapping her gloves off and rubbing her hands with hand sanitizer. Mairead took the blanket Carole forgot to turn back up and tucked around her and Blaine. He looked peaceful at this point, even with the big white bandage covering his forehead and black and blue nose. She asked Kurt as he was eating his vegetarian spaghetti, "How long has been out for now?"

"About three hours, the sedative should last for another two hours or so." He answered with his mouth partially full of food.

"Do you need a break, Kurt? I'll stay here over night with him while you go home get your stuff to come back for the week." She asked him. He looked at her in relief.

"Yeah, I should probably go home. I need to take my step-mom with me, too." He looked at Joey and Mairead. "Call me if he wakes up?" The both nodded as he threw away the empty container.

Carole finished her sandwich and wrote down her cell phone number, the house number, and Burt's cell phone number on a Post-It note and gave it to Joey. "Call me if anything changes. Okay, Joey?" He nodded. She looked at Mairead on the bed. "Take his temperature every twenty minutes and record them. If his temperature reaches over 103.5 degrees, I want you to call me right away. The thermometer is an armpit meter, shouldn't be too hard for you, right Mairead?" She winked as she gathered up her supplies.

"Carole, we should go. It's getting late." Kurt told her grudgingly, he didn't want to leave Blaine.

"I won't leave his side for one second. Go, Kurt. Me and Joey got this." Mairead told him softly.

He nodded, going to Blaine one last time and kissing him. Blaine moved a bit in response to the kiss. Mairead smiled.

Once they were out the door, Mairead asked Joey "I can take care of him right now, why don't you get some sleep and I'll wake you up when I'm tired, okay?" He nodded , unrolling his sleeping near the bed. He was fast asleep within seconds.

Mairead stroked Blaine's curly hair as she was singing along to the song Kurt left on repeat.

_And I learned to live, half-alive_

_And now you want me one more time_

_Who do you think you are?_

_Runnin round leaving scars_

_Collecting your jar of hearts_

Blaine moved around a bit when he heard her singing. She took his hand and he squeezed it. "Hey," She said quietly as he was waking up and Joey was sleeping.

Blaine opened his eyes slowly, still drowsy from the sedative. He tried to speak but found out that it took too much energy to try and speak a full sentence; instead he whispered one word: "Kurt?"

"He went home; he'll be back in the morning. Go back to sleep, Blaine. You're safe here." Mairead whispered soothingly into his ear. Blaine obliged, again plunging himself in his world of nightmares.

Mairead sighed, she wished she could keep him awake and out of that world, but he needed the rest and hoped that he would fall into a dreamless sleep.

**This chapter has been the hardest for me to write so far. For those that I messaged, this is the raw memory of what happened to Mairead. Am I boring you with this story? Please, please review! **

**4-8-11  
**


	7. Battlefield

As soon as Blaine closed his eyes, his mind continued his nightmare at the camp he so despised.

_He woke up in an unfamiliar room filled crosses, pictures of Jesus, and Bible verses written across the walls._

"_Welcome to your new dorm room, Blaine. I hope it's to your liking." Another man's voice said. It was not the same man who hit him. "You're to stay in here whenever you have journal time, instead of writing with the other campers. Oh, and you are to sleep in here also. Have fun!" The man's voice cackled with laughter. "Maybe this'll teach you that you will go to Hell if you do not reject Satan's ways."_

_Blaine blinked slowly as he moved his arms. _Fat chance that'll happen, _He thought. Blaine's back was on fire from the stripes he had to endure over the past month and a half. He was amazed he wasn't sent home like the others yet. _Of course, _he snorted,_ Dad paid them off to keep me here. I hate him and somewhat hate Mom._ Matthew was the CEO of a printing company that worked for corporate companies. _

_He moved around more, swinging his legs over the side of the cot and leaning his arms on his legs. Blaine looked around at all the pictures and words on the wall. He rolled his eyes and tried to stand, but it hurt his back too much. He reached around and touched the bandages on the stripes. _

"_PRAYER TIME!" The speaker over his head announced. Blaine found a shirt inside one of the drawers and opened his door. He discovered his new room isn't far from the old room he shared with Lance, his roommate. All the campers lined up single file down the hall with the councilors taking roll call. They never missed a camper. Blaine went to the front as his last name was first in the alphabet. One of the councilors, a real nasty brute, pushed Blaine into the wall as he was lining up to go the chapel._

_Blaine glared at him. "What's your problem? I didn't do anything to you!" _

_The man laughed. "What's my problem? What's my problem? My problem is you being a gay and a fag, THAT'S my problem. And what you did to me was YOU don't believe in HIM. That's right, you faggot, you don't believe in your savior who's going to save your tiny little ass. GOD is great and merciful, you sick fag. DON'T YOU EVER FORGET IT." The man shoved him one last time into the wall before walking on. The pastor walked out in front of the line._

"_Good afternoon, my children." _We aren't your children, you idiot. And you aren't married, nor did adopt anyone. Not that anyone would want to be with you._ Blaine thought as they walked into the pews._

Blaine woke up when he noticed that his head had slipped off the pillow he was resting on. He gritted his teeth out of pain as he saw, out of the corner of his eye, that Mairead was in a chair next to him with her head asleep on her arms leaning on the bed. Joey was in a sleeping bag on the floor on the other side of the bed. Blaine tried to lift his head, but it was too painful to do anything other than move his eyelids up and down. As he moved his left arm, a curious feeling brushed against his arm. Clear tubing was moving at the same time. _An IV? _He thought woozily. _Who put in an IV? I can't be that bad off can I? I mean, I am at Dalton. Not the hospital…_ Blaine looked up, rolling his eyes instead of his head. On the wooden coat hanger pole that was standard in all Dalton dorm rooms hung two hospital fluid bags off of two gold tipped hanger branches. He could barely see without his contacts or glasses; but he as he squinted, painfully, he was sure one of them said Somethin- Medical-_Saline _and the other _Ibup_ – something. Blaine tried to move his other arm and felt something fall out from under his arm. He cautiously moved his left hand and the IV to pick it up. It was a thin white rod with a metal tip and cord attached to monitor that was in Mairead's hand. Blaine could see a pad of paper and a pen in her other hand next to her. Her iPhone was next to her, a movie still playing on the screen and her ear buds still surprisingly staying in her ears. He felt tired again, just moving his arms and looking around. A sudden beeping sound alerted woke him up a bit.

Mairead moaned and sat up a little bit, stretching her arms up instead of straight out like she usually did; she remembered Blaine was in front of her. She pressed a button on her watch to stop the annoying beeping alarm to wake her up; she had forgotten to turn her school wake-up alarm time off. She then located the pad of paper she had been using to record his temperature every twenty minutes, like Carole said. Speaking of Carole, Mairead would have thought Kurt would be back about now. She pressed a button on the thermometer monitor that would measure Blaine's temperature and looked at her watch. _Hm, it's only six in the morning? When did they leave last night?_ She thought. _I suppose they need sleep after the long drive back to Lima. _Her mind drifted off as she waited for the monitor to beep with a final number. _Dang, did I really fall asleep visualizing? Shouldn't have done tonight, since Blaine… _A soft and quiet beeping snapped her focus back to the monitor. The screen read LT, meaning low temperature. Mairead looked at it, bemused. She took her ear buds out of her ears and moved to check the thermometer when she noticed Blaine's eyes were halfway open and looking at her.

"Hey, you doing okay?" She smiled softly, looking at his battered face.

He took a shaky breath and tried to smile, then grimaced. _Ow, who knew smiling with a broken nose could hurt?_ "K-Kinda hurting right now… but it's somewhat manageable." He whispered. Blaine tried to get himself into a sitting position, but Mairead held him down, again.

"Easy, Blaine. I know you want to get up, but you have to wait for a little while longer. You had to get eleven stitches for that big cut in your forehead. I think we both rather not have that bandage on them blood soaked before they have time to start healing." She told him softly as she reinserted the thermometer into the crook of his underarm. Pressing the button again to make it start measuring his temperature, she got on the opposite side of the bed. "Here, your head slipped off. Lemme get another pillow, that one looks flat and uncomfortable." She grabbed the pillow by his head and threw it on top of cylindrical bundle on the floor. Mairead ran out of the room and across the hall into another room.

_Crap, _he thought, _that's David's room. If she's taking a pillow out of his room… wait, what would happen? That dude never gets mad at anything. Huh._ Blaine thought amusingly. She came back the next second with a fluffy pillow.

"Here, let me help before you hurt yourself." Mairead got on the bed with the pillow in hand.

"Prop me up against the wall? I've been lying on my back around too much." Blaine asked hoarsely, his throat dry. She shook her head. He then remembered what she said earlier. He wanted to brush his hair back from his forehead but Mairead caught his hand he was lifting up slowly just in time. She cocked an eyebrow, looking at him. He groaned, out of pain and frustration.

Mairead gently put her hand under his head, being mindful of his wounds, lifted it up and put the pillow underneath before setting his head back down.

Blaine mumbled thanks, dizzy just from the movement. His stomach rumbled; he hadn't had anything to eat since Saturday night, when Joey made him eat the pudding to take the medication.

Mairead chuckled softly. He groaned. "Do you have anything to eat? I'm seriously craving some food right now." It broke her heart to say, "No. Not until Carole comes back."

The thermometer beeped with the final number. Mairead climbed over Blaine and read the monitor attached the thermometer. "Hm… 103.1 degrees." She looked at him worriedly. "Your temperature's been climbing up the whole night. Carole's worried you might have an infection from the knife, fork, and food that was on the plate. And Matthew's disgusting germs." She growled softly, Joey hadn't woken up yet. Mairead wrote the temperature on the paper when Blaine's phone rumbled. Blaine quickly, without thinking, turned his head towards his nightstand and groaned; the pain he kept under control came back with a vengeance. Mairead shook her head and rolled her eyes at him, giving him the "I told you so" look.

She took the phone and answered it. "Hi Carole. It's Mairead. Sorry, my cell phone was in my backpack. He just woke up. Mmhm. No, I haven't given anything for him to eat yet; I was waiting for you and see if the food I give might have a bad reaction to the fluids you administered in the IV. Okay, I can give him whatever he wants to eat." Mairead directed the last sentence at Blaine. He gave her a thumbs-up, his eyes closed. "Yeah, the bandages seem fine; I haven't peeled any of them back. His temperature has been climbing all night, but it's seems to be going up quite slowly. The last one was 103.1 degrees," Mairead touched Blaine's chest and palm, "His skin is hot. Should I… yes, I'll do that. Okay, I'll see at around eleven; oh, of course. Hi Kurt! Yeah, he just woke up; do you – 'kay, he's still a bit woozy though. But I'll hand it to him, see you at eleven." She handed his Android to him and mouthed _Kurt_. He slowly reached his right hand up to the phone, not wanting to aggravate the cuts on his chest.

"Hell-o?" Blaine said slowly and quietly, his brother still asleep.

"Blaine! You're awake! I didn't expect you to be awake already. Do you want anything to eat? I'll go and pick something up. What, Carole? She says soft foods right now. What do you want?" Blaine thought.

"Does steak count as soft?" He whispered in to the phone. Laughter could be heard from the bathroom where Mairead was wetting several washcloths in cold water.

"Carole says no. Pick something else, soup maybe?"

"NO." Blaine nearly dropped the phone. He hated any kind of broth soup after what happened one time in the summer camp.

"Okay, calm down, I won't get soup. Blaine? Are you still there?" Kurt asked as Blaine had tried to calm himself down before talking into the phone. "Blaine, I'm sorry. Please talk? Blaine!"

Mairead saw his distress and gently took the phone out of his hand. "I think he's in pain, Kurt. I'm going to let him go back to sleep after I reconnect his ibuprofen bag to the IV. You're coming around eleven, right? I think you can bring some ice cream for him. His favorite flavor is chocolate, I think. Yeah, I'll see you then." Blaine nudged Mairead, bringing his hand to his ear making only his thumb and pinky out of his closed fist. "I think Blaine wants to say one last thing. Okay, see you at eleven." She handed the phone back to him and walked back to the bathroom.

"Kurt, I'm sorry; I shouldn't have stopped talking. I'll tell you later; if I'm awake. I love you." Blaine said softly into the phone.

"I'm sorry too. And I love you so much. I'll see you at eleven, okay?" Blaine said an affirmative before hanging up. He slowly stretched his arm out to place the Android on the nightstand.

The pain was defiantly starting to get to him, Blaine was hissing loud enough for Mairead to hear. She walked back to his bedside with cold, wet wash cloths in hand. "Hey, like I said to Kurt, I'm going to reconnect your pain meds again. Carole taught me how to disconnect it over the phone when I called her last night. She's going to bring over another fever reducer just in case today." Blaine looked away. "What's wrong, Blaine? You know that Kurt and Carole are just trying to help you."

"Don't connect the ibuprofen, I don't want it. I don't want to go back. Not there, not again, not ever." He made a motion to rip the IV out his hand but Mairead caught his hand and set it down on the bed, holding it there.

"Where did you go last time, Blaine? Tell me, please? We both know that I have the same problems with dreams, mine is just… worse than yours." She asked softly. He looked at her with tears in his eyes.

He was whispering, "It was the camp again, I'm in line to go into the chapel. It's when the brute shoved me into the wall and right after I'm sitting in the damn pew." She sighed; she knew the upcoming memory sequence was going to be bad if she put him back on the pain medication.

"Blaine, you know you're in pain, right? You have to go back on the ibuprofen so you can heal. You do want that, right?" She whispered into his ear as she removed her hand. He nodded, crying softly. "Why don't we compromise, okay? I put the drip back in only when you're asleep on your own. You look exhausted already, and you've only been up for fifteen minutes. Okay?" Mairead stroked the side of his face gently, knowing this was what Miranda did to do to get him calm down quickly.

"S-sure," Blaine mumbled. Mairead once again climbed on the other side of the bed to comfort Blaine and to keep stroking his face. His eyes were already drooping when she began singing one of her favorite artists' hit songs from a couple years back.

_Don't try to explain your mind_

_I know what's happening here_

_One minute it's love_

_And suddenly it's like a battlefield_

_One word turns into a war_

_Why is it the smallest things that tear us down?_

_My world's nothing when you don't_

_I'm not here without a shield_

_Can't go back now_

_Both hands tied behind my back with nothing_

_Oh no, these times when we climb so fast to fall again_

_Why we gotta fall for it now_

_I never meant to start a war_

_You know I never wanna hurt you_

_Don't even know what we're fighting for_

_Why does love always feel like a battlefield, a battlefield, a battlefield?_

Blaine started mumbling as she was singing, his eyes closing for longer and longer time periods.

_Can't swallow our pride,_

_Neither of us wanna raise that flag, mhmm_

_If we can't surrender then we both gonna lose what we had, oh no_

_Both hands tied behind my back with nothing_

_Oh no, these times when we climb so fast to fall again_

_I don't wanna fall for it now_

_I never meant to start a war_

_You know I never wanna hurt you_

_Don't even know what we're fighting for_

_Why does love always feel like a battlefield, a battlefield, a battlefield_

_Why does love always feel like a battlefield, a battlefield, a battlefield_

_I guess you better go and get your armor, (get your armor) get your armor_

Mairead saw that he was snoring lightly out of his mouth before getting off the bed, being mindful of Joey who was still asleep on the floor in the sleeping bag, and walked over to his impromptu IV pole. Blaine stirred for a bit when she stopped singing. Surprised, she continued singing as she reconnected the ibuprofen drip to his IV line.

_I guess you better go and get your armor, (get your armor) get your armor_

_Why does love always feel like_

_Why does love always feel like_

_A battlefield, a battlefield_

_I never meant_

_To start a war_

_Don't even know_

_What we're fighting for_

She took her place again at his bedside and took his temperature and recorded it. It had finally reached 103.5 degrees, the point at which Carole had told Mairead to call her. She decided against it; knowing that she and Kurt would be there in a few hours. Doing what Carole said, she took the wet and cold washcloths and put them gently on Blaine's collarbone, one under his neck, and two on his chest. She covered up his scar on his chest with one. Mairead put back in her ear buds and continued watching _Star Trek_, the 2009 version, on her iPod and tried to keep her own memories away as she wait for Kurt's and Carole's arrival.

**Sorry for the delay, the admins of this site had shut down the login/sign in button at the top for a few hours before I could upload this. I'm having the one of the hardest moments of my life right now and school is starting up again after today, so don't expect daily updates. I'll try to do my best to update as quick as I can, but with school, badminton, and… issues at home, it's not a guarantee. Thank you for reading, and please, please review, it's one of the only things that's getting me through life right now. Thank you.**


	8. The Story

Mairead was watching _Star Trek_ for the third time when she heard a click of the door; it was only nine in the morning. Kurt had come in by himself with his messenger bag slung over his shoulder and chest with a tub of chocolate ice cream and a reusable bag in his hands.

Kurt smiled, lifting up the bag. "Brought some stuff for you. And of course, I'm here to relieve you from duty. Temporarily, anyway" After Mairead shot him a defensive look. "You look like Gaga with a hangover, no offense." She just nodded. She had been up with Blaine since she climbed the window that Saturday morning. It was just the beginning of Monday and she was running on almost no sleep. "Here, why don't you get something to eat and go to sleep? I can watch over him. And don't even think of saying no; you've already done so much for him and Joey." She opened her mouth for a rebuttal but couldn't think of anything. Mairead just nodded and told him about his temperature and the towels.

Joey woke up as she unrolled her sleeping bag next to him. "Wazzgoingon?" He said blearily, rubbing his eyes to get the mucus out that built up overnight.

Mairead sighed. "Kurt's here, I'm going to sleep for the rest of eternity." No one ever bothered her sleep. "Keep Kurt company? There's some food on his desk if you're hungry, and try not to blast the music in the dock and no rock. You know we both need sleep." She opened her bag and took out a t-shirt and sweat pants and went into the bathroom as Joey plopped down on his pillow again. She took off her favorite black long-sleeved t-shirt and looked at her back in the mirror, after making sure the door was locked. Mairead's back was covered in small circular scars that she told people were acne scars; in reality, some of them where, but most were scars when she whipped herself in the back when she was bullied.

Mairead touched one of the scars, it reminded her of how she was slammed against a wall in a hallway because of how she looked; slim, but not too fat or skinny, with beautiful medium length black hair. Another scar was from a group of boys who teased her constantly, and not in a playful manner. One of the boys must have been making fun of how she kept silent for days at a time and he thought it would be funny to get her to cry out in pain, using her voice for the first time in three days. After school, she would slip into her room and with one of her belts that she destroyed so that there would only be a tiny stub of the little stick on the buckle, she would whip herself so that blood would have been drawn and she did eat dinner that night, but later puked it up, saying in her head, _I'm too freaking fat, I'm eating too much, I'll eat less tomorrow._ The only thing she would eat is a banana and a cup of milk, skip school lunch, come home eat dinner, puke, and repeat. Mairead did allow herself to eat an occasional piece of bread, but only if she ran an extra lap if she had gym the next day.

She finished looking at her back and put on her t-shirt and sweatpants. When she came out next, Joey was quietly talking with Kurt as he ate one of the Costco muffins she and Joey bought on the way here. Mairead checked Blaine one last time as she was yawning; he didn't seem as hot as before, but still hotter than normal body temperature. She slipped into her sleeping bag, turned on her iPhone alarm to wake her up in three hours, pressed her way into a music playlist full of songs that made her sleep, put in the ear buds, and was unconscious in approximately five seconds.

"So, he really did send Blaine to those camps? That's horrible." Kurt said as he put the ice cream in Blaine's secret refrigerator and freezer in his closet. He looked over at his sleeping boyfriend, who had his face a little scrunched up. Kurt walked over the bed and sat in the chair Mairead had sat in, smoothing back his sweaty hair. Blaine's skin seemed really hot to him and he was shivering. Kurt really wanted to tuck the blanket up to his chin, and was going to until he remembered what Carole had said to Mairead over the phone. He felt the wet towels and revealed that they were warm already, so he took them off of his sleeping boyfriend. Kurt walked to his bathroom and rewetted the towels in cold water, his hands going numb from the temperature. He laid them in the exact way Mairead had put them on Blaine, one under his neck, one on his collarbone, and two on his chest. Kurt lingered at the scar tissue on his chest.

Blaine suddenly grabbed his hand and started muttering. "No, don't, please. Please don't… I-I d-didn't m-mean it. Please don't!"

Kurt stared in surprise and shock; that had come out of absolutely nowhere. He dropped the towel he was holding and stroked Blaine's hair while whispering. "Blaine, it's me Kurt. You're okay, wake up. Wake up for me? Please? Blaine, you're safe; come back to me." Kurt knew what was happening, it happened often when he was under stress or in pain. He could often hear Blaine's thrashing from his room, one dorm room down from Blaine's. And it would often be Kurt who ran into his room, reassuring him instead of the other boys; Kurt was a light sleeper. And like Mairead, you don't interfere with teenagers and sleep; so none of the other boys really ever noticed.

Blaine started whimpering at this point, his fore head scrunching up more than it should; Kurt was afraid the stitches might be ruined. He started to sing the song Blaine woke up to every morning, from Brandi Carlile.

_All of these lines across my face_

_Tell you the story of who I am_

_So many stories of where I've been_

_And how I got to where I am_

_But these stories don't mean anything_

_When you've got no one to tell them to_

_It's true...I was made for you_

_I climbed across the mountain tops_

_Swam all across the ocean blue_

_I crossed all the lines and I broke all the rules_

_But baby I broke them all for you_

_Because even when I was flat broke_

_You made me feel like a million bucks_

_Yeah you do and I was made for you_

Blaine's eyes started to open in response to Kurt's singing, his face still scrunched up. Kurt stoked the side of his face with his other hand and smiled with tears in his eyes as he continued singing in his beautiful countertenor voice that Blaine adored so much.

_You see the smile that's on my mouth_

_Is hiding the words that don't come out_

_And all of my friends who think that I'm blessed_

_They don't know my head is a mess_

_No, they don't know who I really am_

_And they don't know what I've been through like you do_

_And I was made for you..._

_All of these lines across my face_

_Tell you the story of who I am_

_So many stories of where I've been_

_And how I got to where I am_

_But these stories don't mean anything_

_When you've got no one to tell them to_

_It's true...I was made for you_

_Oh yeah, it's true... I was made for you._

Blaine's eyes started to droop again as Kurt finished the song; Kurt chuckled quietly at his face. "Hey, I'm here. I love you, and I won't leave you, okay? Just go back to sleep, and dream about… Harry Potter." Blaine looked up and tried to smile, he succeeded in a small pained smile.

"I wish I could," he whispered so that only Kurt could hear. "W-Where did Mairead go? She said she wouldn't leave me! Where is she?" He started to breath heavily out of his mouth, panicking.

"Shh, shh. Calm down, Blaine. She's sleeping; she was having a hard time staying awake looking after you. Mairead's just on the other side of you, on the floor in a sleeping bag." Kurt murmured to him.

"I-I need to see her! W-Where is she, Kurt? Where?"His eyes snapped open, his pupils rolling around wildly looking for her. Blaine's nails were digging into Kurt's wrist, nearly drawing blood.

"Blaine, relax! You're going to ruin the stitches on your forehead if you don't, make you nose hurt even worse than what I can imagine right now, and you're going to one hell of a headache that's worthy of Jacob Alexander fame!" Kurt tried smoothing the side of his face, feeling the stubble that was growing.

Blaine didn't calm down, instead pushing against Kurt's hands and trying to get up. His eyes weren't focusing on any one thing. Kurt tried pushing him down forcefully, but Blaine somehow found the strength to push back even after being asleep for about sixteen total hours.

"Joey! Come over here, now! I need you." Kurt quietly shouted to the young man behind him, not wanting to wake Mairead up.

Joey stood frozen to the spot. He couldn't bear to see Blaine pushing against his boyfriend's hands, he just… couldn't. Joey backed up slowly until he hit a wall, sliding down to his butt with tears slowly trickling down and a terrified expression on his face.

Kurt, still struggling with Blaine, hated to do this to Mairead. "Mairead! Wake up! I need you. Wake up, Mairead! Mairead!" He shouted. Blaine had gotten up into a sitting position; blood had started to show through on the bandage on his forehead and the cuts on his chest starting to show signs of bleeding.

Mairead slowly woke up to a male screaming her name. "What? What happened?" She yelled, slurring the words from her drowsiness. Mairead slammed on her glasses that she had taken out of her backpack and put by her sleeping bag before she slept. She saw Blaine struggling to get up and Kurt trying hold him down. Joey was at the opposite end of her, sitting by the wall and crying. Stumbling over her own feet she managed to get to Kurt's side and get Blaine back into the bed, holding his legs down. His eyes still weren't focusing on anything, including Kurt or Mairead; he was struggling to get up.

"Blaine, I'm here. Shh, I'm here, I'm here." Mairead half-shouted at Blaine, trying to put on a brave face. Once again, she knew this would happen if he was under stress; he was always clinging to something when he had a panic attack.

Blaine's eyes closed for a second and snapped back open looking right at Mairead, he had finally focused on her; his eyes were like those of an wild dog backed into a corner, wary yet scared. "M-Mari?" He had lapsed into calling her by her old nickname again; Blaine was disoriented. Before he "woke-up" he kept seeing these black figures around him trying to touch his skin. It reminded him too much of the "intervention" Matthew had set up for him when he first came out to his family. Blaine had also lapsed into one of his waking flashbacks, they were worse than Mairead's flashbacks because he was often more violent than her during them.

Matthew had brought in a team of priests from their church and had him tied down to his bed, convinced that he was possessed by a demon. It was Mairead and Nick who came to his rescue, after hearing his screams through her phone that Blaine had called a few seconds earlier. She saw the various cars in his driveway and black clothed men entering his house a few minutes before he called. They were all carrying a bag at their side and one man was wearing a long white robe with a long silk scarf around his neck. Jason, Mairead's father, had smashed in the Anderson's front door to get to Blaine.

_Flashback_

_Blaine had just called Mari to talk with her for a bit before he had to go downstairs for lunch. She picked up and had just said "Hey! Wha - " When the door to his room slammed open and men in black clothing swarmed him. Blaine found himself being tackled to his bed and cords being tied around his shoulders, chest, arms, legs, and feet. He then found a thicker cord being put in his mouth to gag him. He fought fruitlessly against his attackers, but there were too many. Matthew was in doorway with a sobbing Miranda, he was silent as he watched his son being "cleansed" of the demon. _

_The men backed two feet away from the bed when they were done. Another man was walking up to Miranda and Matthew; he was dressed in a long white robe with a emerald green scarf draped around his neck on top of the robe. He took out a small bottle of what looked like water and opened a little nozzle at the top, wetted his fingertips with it, drew a cross on Miranda's and Matthew's forehead and walked into the room. The man had a hard look on his face as he walked towards the bed where Blaine was bound. Blaine looked into the man's eyes with anger._

_The man whispered into his ear, "Soon, you shall be free of Satan's servant that has taken refuge with in you, Blaine. Do not worry, God shall save your soul!" Blaine then felt intense pain in his arm, the man had secretly taken a slender, long blade out of his pocket and ran it along Blaine's bared arm; he screamed but was muffled by the gag. He was then promptly blindfolded by white cloth and could no longer see what was happening to him. Blaine suffered for about the next half hour, drifting in and out of consciousness because of the pain. _

_He was semi-conscious when he heard a faint bang and someone calling, "Blaine! It's me! Where are you?" Blaine blacked out again, but only for a brief time. He woke up to someone shaking him, the blindfold and ropes off of him. Mairead had a bruise on her cheek and a cut across her forehead. He heard someone else scuffling with another man but was too weak to lift his head. _

"_Wh-what happened?" he mumbled, his eyes closing. Mairead gently slapped his face several times. _

"_Don't you dare go to sleep, Blaine! You keep talking with me, you hear that? You keep talking with ME!" She spoke loudly._

_Blaine did his best to enunciate his next question, as the pain was getting too intense from all the cuts all over his upper body from the cuts that the men inflicted as to provide "gateways" for the demon to get out. The blackness was slowly closing in but he was fighting it. "Why? I'm so tired… Let me sleep, Mari." He whispered. _

_Nick was still in the room, fending off the men in black shirts and pants. "Blaine, it's Nick! Stay awake! Please! You're not alone, okay? Stay awake!" Nick rambled as he did all he could to get the men away from Blaine and to make him stay awake._

_Blaine did manage to stay awake long enough for Jason and Sarah to arrive and take charge of the situation. Jason, Mairead, and Nick carried Blaine out of his house and into their own house while Sarah stayed back and argued with a still sobbing Miranda and Matthew. The men who had tortured Blaine fled and never came back again. Joey was thankfully at a school overnight trip in Indiana for his band trip; he played percussion in his school's top band._

_Once Blaine was settled in the guest bedroom, he passed out again. _

"_Dad?" Mairead said softly as they exited the room, leaving only Nick with Blaine. "I think he should go to the hospital. Blaine looks too pale and he's really cold." She looked at Jason. Mairead could see the conflict in his eyes._

_Jason had two options: one, take him to the hospital and they might uncover what happened to him, or two, don't take him and risk him developing complications and then Matthew would press charges against him for kidnapping Blaine. "Let…Let me think about this, okay? I need to help your mother and then I'll tell you." Jason left Mairead at the top of the stairs and jogged down and out the door to the house next door where his wife was shouting at who used to be their best friends._

_Mairead quietly walked back into Blaine's room. Nick had taken out the bowl that was under the sink in the guest bathroom, which was attached to the room, and filled it with water. The water was a faint pink from Blaine's blood that Nick was washing off with washcloths. Nick was sitting on one side of the bed, Mairead on the other. She could see tears in Nick's eyes, but didn't say anything. _

"_Mari?" Nick asked so softly Mairead almost missed it. "Who would do this to him? Why would they do this? He didn't do anything and this is what he gets from his parents? Why, Mairead, why?" Nick broke down in sobs as he dropped the cloth he was holding back into the water bowl, the water was a deeper pink. Mairead ran around to the other side of the bed and hugged Nick, telling him that they should go outside so he wouldn't wake Blaine up. _

_Once outside, and the door shut, Nick cried harder and wailed. Mairead was panicking, _What do I do?_ She thought, _Oh, duh. That always calms him down._ Since she was adopted from the horrible Vietnamese orphanage when she was ten years old, she still retained much of her native language, Vietnamese. Nick always loved it when she spoke it, it sounded like music to him; with its choppy rhythm at times and smooth sentences. She spoke all that she could remember since she hadn't spoken it in six years to her three years older brother. He calmed down enough that they could go back into Blaine's room and watch him. Mairead stayed at Nick's side the entire time. Blaine's cuts were still bleeding and he was paler than when they left him. Mairead remembered how red the carpet was around Blaine's bed when she, Jason, and Nick stormed into his room. _

_Loud thumping noises could be heard outside the door. Mairead instinctively jumped into her fighting stance in front of Blaine and Nick when the door opened, her fists balled up like a boxer and her feet ready to jump at a moment's notice. She nearly did too, as Jason burst into the room. _

"_Mairead, your mom and you are going to get Blaine to the hospital. I'm staying here with Nick." Jason said in a no nonsense voice. She nodded. Mairead had started to wake Blaine up, but Sarah got to her before she could wake him up fully. _

"_Don't," Sarah whispered, shaking her head. Jason had run into the hallway to the closet where he grabbed a thick blanket. Mairead carefully peeled back the thin sheet from Blaine's body, the blood had soaked into the threads. Jason gave her the blanket. She took and wrapped him in it, Blaine never stirred. Sarah looked on worriedly._

_It had only taken them fifteen minutes to get to the hospital where Sarah worked and only two minutes to get him into the ER. The doctors bought the story of Blaine was playing tennis with Mairead, tripped, and fell into a nearby rocky piece of land. Since Sarah worked there, Mairead was allowed to be with Blaine as they cleaned him up._

"M-Mari? Where am I? I-I don't know… what happened? I saw the priests from church coming in…" Blaine stopped struggling against Kurt's and Mairead's hands holding him down. Mairead quickly release her hold on his legs, Kurt doing the same on his chest and arms; they didn't want to hold him down longer than what was needed. Blaine looked exhausted and scared.

"Hey, do you want some ice cream? Maybe it'll help you calm down more." Mairead asked him softly. "Kurt brought some and stored in your freezer in your closet." Blaine breathed a yes. Mairead nodded to Kurt who nodded back and kissed Blaine on the cheek before getting the ice cream.

Mairead saw the blood on the bandage on Blaine's forehead and decided to change them before Kurt got back with the bowl and spoon for Blaine. "Hey, there's blood on your bandage on your forehead. I'm going to change it, okay? This might sting a little bit, no, I take that back. It'll sting a lot." Blaine's eyes closed as he chuckled softly.

"D-don't worry," he croaked, his throat dry. "I 'hink I can han'le it." He slurred drowsily. Before Mairead snapped on the gloves Carole had left for her, she got Blaine a cup of water with a straw and propped him upright on more pillows from David's room.

"Tell me if you start getting dizzy, okay?" She said as she handed him the water. He took the cup slowly, being careful of the IV in his hand, and started taking big gulps of the ice cold water. "Whoa there, Anderson. Small sips; you're going to make yourself sick." He slowly nodded, lowering the cup from his mouth, his thirst quenched. She snapped on a pair of gloves and opened up the packets of sterile gauze and alcohol pads. She took a side of the bandage on Blaine's forehead and slowly peeled off the tape.

Blaine gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, it felt like his skin was being pulled off. He tried to think of happy thoughts, _'Kay, think. Um… Kurt kissing me. Me singing Teenage Dream to him. Um…crap, that hurt. Uh… Kurt singing Blackbird. Kurt trying to make sexy faces when we sang to the Crawford girls. Kurt…_ The adhesive tape was off. Now it was time for the alcohol pads. They stung, but it didn't hurt as much as the tape. Once Mairead snapped off her gloves, Blaine opened his eyes to the sight of Kurt smiling at him. He smiled back. "Hey. I missed you." Kurt handed him the bowl with the chocolate ice cream.

"I missed you, too. Don't you dare leave me again. Or I swear I will take over your closet and make it over." Kurt threatened jokingly as Blaine slowly ate the ice cream.

Blaine was almost finished with the ice cream when he started getting sleepy and heard the door click open, it was Carole. Kurt smiled.

Carole went immediately to Blaine's IV pole. The saline and ibuprofen bag were still fairly full. "Blaine? Did you sleep okay? Are you in pain?" She asked him. He nodded a little bit.

"I have it mostly under control. Mairead just changed the bandage here." Blaine pointed at his forehead. "Now I'm just getting sleepy, again." He leaned back into his pillows and shivered. Mairead came out of the bathroom where she was washing her hands and changing into jeans and a tee-shirt. Blaine just noticed that she had deep purple bags under her eyes; he felt guilty. "Mairead, why don't you get some sleep? I'm sorry I haven't let you sleep for the past couple of days." She waved him off.

"It's fine, I can survive. I've gone nearly five days without any sleep before." Blaine was shocked as she said it so casually. She retrieved the pad of paper that she had been recording Blaine's temperature on since last night and gave it to Carole. Mairead then went back over to the bed and put the thermometer back into the crook of Blaine's arm again and measured.

"Carole, his temperature right now is still about 103 degrees. It's 103.1 degrees." Carole nodded.

She took a small needleless syringe out of her bag and went over to his IV pole. "Blaine what I'm giving you is another fever reducer that'll put you to sleep. No, no, not that kind of drugged sleep." She comforted him as his eyes went wide. "This one works over about fifteen minutes to help your body produce the natural hormones that make you go to sleep. So in reality, you're making yourself go to sleep naturally but just with a little help. Does that sound okay to you?" Blaine looked at Kurt, his eyes still wide.

"I promise I won't leave you, not until you wake up again. I promise, Blaine." Kurt said softly into his ear. He climbed into the bed, getting on Blaine's right side where it wasn't obstructed by his IV or anything.

Blaine took a shaky breath and nodded to Carole, who screwed in the syringe and pushed the plunger all the way down before unscrewing it and placing it in the little red bucket with a biohazard sign on it; Blaine hadn't noticed that bucked there before. Mairead took her place at his bedside in the chair again as Carole noticed Joey sitting by the wall. She walked over to him and slid down the wall to talk with him.

Kurt, Mairead, and Blaine talked about the upcoming Regionals competitions until Blaine had drifted off and was fast asleep with a smile on his face. Both Kurt and Mairead looked at each other and smiled, knowing Blaine won't have any nightmares this time around.

"Why don't you really get some sleep? Carole and I are here, so you really should get some sleep, Mairead." Kurt insisted quietly when she shook her head.

She whispered, "But what if he wakes up asking for me again? Then what?"

Kurt sighed, he hated doing this to her when she's already done so much for the two of them. "I'll try to get him to calm down before I need to wake you up, okay? Now, you need sleep." He looked pointedly at the sleeping bag on the floor beside him. Then he thought. "Actually, Mairead, why don't you go next door? It's my dorm room, you can sleep in there. It'll be nice and quiet. And you won't have to sleep on the ground. I'll call you if Blaine needs you." Mairead looked at him gratefully. She took one last look at Blaine and brushed his hair back before quietly walking out the door and into Kurt's room.

Once Mairead was out the door, Kurt grabbed his iPhone off of Blaine's nightstand next to his IV pole and clicked his iBook app open. As it was loading, he saw Carole talking with a balled up Joey by the wall. _Poor kid, I hope he's doing okay._ Kurt stroked Blaine's hair as he waited for the app to finish loading. It finally loaded and the first book that popped up was _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_. He smiled; it was Blaine's favorite book out of the whole series. Kurt started reading as both Blaine, and Mairead, received the rest they so deserved and needed.

**So, I'm sorry that I didn't upload this sooner. Like I said in the last chapter, which was uploaded 4-10-11, I'm still having the hardest time of my life right now. I… I'm struggling though life right now, and some days I just can't find the motivation to write. So if you guys can… could you spread the word about this story so more people can review? Because the reviews on this story are what I'm basically living on right now for the positive part of my days. Thanks. **

**I also have one more request of you awesome guys. There is this charity called Invisible Children that I'm a part of. This Monday, I made a vow to stay silent for twenty-five hours for the twenty-five years of war that child soldiers have had to endure in Central Africa. I need to raise only $25 to help support this charity, and if you just donate just $1 you are going to help save the life a child who might have been terrorized by Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army into joining them. And you might be thinking, "Oh, I don't need to, other people will, this person'll be fine. I don't need to donate." In reality, you do. It's young people like us who will change the world, not the bystanders. So, what will you be? An active supporter or a bystander? I'll post the link to my fundraising page on my profile. Please remember, it's only $1 if you twenty-five of you help support this. Think about what you can do with $1. You could help save a life. Thank you.**

**4-23-11**


	9. Chapter 9

Just as Kurt was reading the third chapter of _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_, he heard a small voice say "Oh, damn. I forgot."

Turns out it was Carole saying it. Joey had fallen asleep against her and she had no way of getting up. "Kurt? Kurt?" Carole softly said, not wanting to wake the brothers up.

Kurt looked up from his iPhone, a questioning look in his face. "Hmm?" he hummed quietly.

"In my bag, over by Blaine's desk, there's a packet of brown syringes in a Ziploc bag. Those are antibiotics, amoxicillin. It's for his possible infection. But it's an oral medication. I forgot to give it to him before I gave him the fever reducer. Try to give it to him, now?" Carole asked him.

He nodded and tried getting off the bed without jostling the mattress too much. Kurt did as Carole said and retrieved the bag of the light brown tinted syringes. Kurt looked over at Carole for confirmation, she nodded. He then got back on the bed and took one out. It was a small syringe with a thick liquid inside; since it wasn't an IV syringe, it just had an open end that was covered with a removable cap. "Flavored?" He inquired. She nodded. Before he took the cap off of the syringe, he gently shook Blaine somewhat awake. "Hey, it's me. Can you try to wake up a little bit? For me? You need to take some more meds." He whispered gently in his ear while massaging his scalp.

Blaine stirred a bit and his eyes opened a centimeter. "Mmm….ye-ah, I'm… getting, there." He said quite sleepily.

"I'm going to put something in your mouth, okay? It's just another med, but it's flavored…" Kurt looked at Carole as she mouthed, "Strawberry." "It's a strawberry flavored; but I need you to swallow this and then just a sip of water, and I'll let you go back to sleep, okay?" Kurt slung his arm over the mound of pillows Blaine was resting on and rubbed his arm; he was still quite hot from his fever, and also his skin was shining from the sweat his fever was making his body produce.

"Mm, o-kay." Blaine's eyes slipped back down as he opened his mouth about an inch wide. Kurt slipped the uncovered syringe end into his mouth and slowly pushed down the plunger. He could see Blaine slowly swallowing the medicine and sighing before he swallowed the next mouthful. Once done with the medicine, Kurt took out the empty syringe out and reached for the cup of water he had set on the nightstand; he slipped the straw between Blaine's lips, encouraging him to take a few sips before he went back to sleep.

Blaine obliged, nearly drinking half the cup before mumbling "I love you, Ku-rt" and promptly fell asleep, lightly snoring.

Kurt smiled, kissed his temple and leaned into the mound of pillows his boyfriend was sleeping on. He set the cup back on the nightstand before he noticed that Blaine was lightly shivering, his shirt still off. Kurt had seen him without a shirt before, when they were changing out of their gym uniform. The thing that disturbed him the most was his scar. _How did I not notice that? I mean, I did see him fooling around with Wes and David when we had to play that horrible game of who can withstand the most snowballs thrown at you in the cold in shorts… but how did I not see this?_ He lightly ran his fingers over the horrid scar tissue. Kurt then remembered that he was still shivering. "Carole?" Kurt called quietly. She looked up as she was smoothing Joey's black hair away from his tear-streaked face. "He's shivering; do you think I can cover him up with a heavier blanket than this sheet?" He waved his hand over the thin white blanket.

Carole looked conflicted; she didn't want to wake Joey up, but she also wanted to check Blaine's temperature to see if the fever reducer was working. She gently shook Joey awake and murmured something in his ear. He got up with her help and walked back over to his sleeping bag where he curled up into a small ball. Kurt's heart hurt for the younger boy, wishing he didn't have to go through with this. Carole tucked Joey in and lightly kissed him on the forehead before walking over to Blaine's nightstand where she had set up all the medical supplies Blaine would need if he woke up. She took the thermometer and inserted it the crook of his arm and waited for the monitor to beep. When it did, she smiled. "Kurt, it's 102.1. His temperature is finally going down. I think it'll be alright if you got another blanket for him. But you might want to wipe his skin up with warm water a bit; it's covered in sweat. And get him out of those jeans? I should get going, it's already twelve and my shift at work starts at two." Carole told him as she tidied up the nightstand and checked that his IV bags were all right. She also disconnected his ibuprofen bag. "I told Mairead how to change his saline bag when it gets empty so you won't have to, alright? And you know my numbers, Kurt. I want you to call me if Blaine's temperature gets too high, again." Carole gathered up her bags and kissed Kurt before quickly, but quietly, walking to the door.

"Bye… Mom. I love you." Kurt said slowly, adjusting to calling her mom. Carole stopped and looked back, tears in her eyes. She walked back to the bed when Kurt was getting off the mattress. He hugged her tightly and she hugged back tighter. "I love you too, Kurt." Carole said tearfully, it had taken her weeks to get Kurt to finally call her by anything else but her first name.

She kissed him one last time. "Oh, sweetie. I love you, too. I'll have Finn call you to check with you later today. I know you miss him when you're here at Dalton." Carole let go of Kurt and walked out the door.

Kurt went to the window where he could see Carole getting into her somewhat-new 2004 Honda Accord Kurt and Burt managed to fix for her after the wedding but before he transferred to Dalton. She waved him a good-bye with a smile as she backed up, Kurt waved back. He turned back to his sickly boyfriend who was fast asleep. As Kurt smoothed his hair back, Blaine moaned slightly and leaned into his hand. Kurt smiled and kissed his cheek before getting him a pair of sweatpants and towels to clean his skin of the feverish sweat that had built up over the past two days. Kurt found what he needed: a pair of his favorite cobalt blue sweatpants with the Dalton insignia on the pocket, a bowl which he filled with warm water, several towels, and a heavier fleece-lined blanket in his closet with a huge Gryffindor symbol.

He had to make several trips over to Blaine's bed to drop off the supplies before making one last trip into his dorm room, where Mairead was sleeping. The door was unlocked so he quietly peeked in before entering. Mairead was a messy sleeper, the covers completely messed up and the pillow on top of her head. Kurt could hear her murmuring some words in a foreign language; he didn't know what it was. He quietly padded his way over to his dresser and took out a comfy t-shirt and a pair of his own Dalton sweatpants, but in black instead of blue. Kurt took one last look at Mairead before going back to Blaine.

Blaine's IV hand had slipped off the bed and was hanging on the side when Kurt reentered the room. Kurt quickly, but quietly, walked over and gently put his hand back on the bed. Kurt then went into the bathroom to change out of his expensive black Jacob Alexander designer jeans and canary yellow Marc Jacob jacket, the same jacket he wore when Karofsky shoved Kurt into the locker after he shoved Blaine into the fence the day before.

Kurt shuddered at the thought of Karofsky. He hoped he would never see him again. Once he changed into his shirt and pants, he returned to the room, turned down the thin blanket, and started to take the cloths off of Blaine's skin that Mairead and Carole put on to bring his fever down. Blaine responded slightly by moaning when the first cloth was removed, Kurt murmured soothing words to him. After he heard Blaine's breaths deepen, indicating he was deep into his sleep again, he continued taking off the warm and wet towels. He then dipped a clean towel into the bowl of warm water and washed Blaine's skin of sweat.

"I love you, Blaine," Kurt whispered to him as he continued wiping his skin. "And…I don't know what I'm even talking about. But… no, you probably won't even remember what I'm about to say… but I want to…" Kurt sighed, feeling silly. _Talking to my unconscious boyfriend is… kinda awkward._ He thought. He finished washing his chest and arms before taking the bowl of water and the towels back into the bathroom and leaving it there.

Blaine was shivering again when he got back. Kurt bit his lip, knowing that he would… have to change Blaine out of his jeans quickly and into his warm sweatpants. _If talking to him is awkward… oh help me, Gaga._ Kurt took the sheet he removed and covered Blaine's chest with it. He then got on to the bed and then quickly unbuttoned Blaine's pants, not wanting to think about what he was doing. He eventually got Blaine into the sweatpants without thinking too much. Kurt sighed; finally done with his most awkward moment, ever, with Blaine. But he was sure there were more to come in the future.

Kurt unfolded Blaine's warm Gryffindor blanket and covered him with it, leaving only his neck and head exposed. He went into the bathroom one last time to wet one last ice cold towel and put it under his neck. Blaine mumbled something when Kurt lifted his hand off of the side of his head to let him rest on the pillow. Kurt looked at Blaine's face; he looked so peaceful even with the large white bandage and bruised nose. It reminded him of the first time he had slept with Blaine, when he was drunk from Rachel's alcohol party. Albeit he breath stunk, but he looked so relaxed, like nothing in the world could bother him.

Kurt made up his mind; even though it was only about 2:45 in the afternoon, he was going to sleep with his boyfriend. He made sure that his phone was on the lowest volume setting possible without waking up either boys on each of his sides, slid under the humongous blanket, gently slid his hand into Blaine's open right hand, and drifted off to sleep with sound of his boyfriend lightly snoring beside him.

**Hey guys, thank you for all the reviews. They really do make my day so thank you so very much. No song this chapter but lots of Kurt. Please review! Thank you!**


	10. Candles II

_The next day… Tuesday, four in the morning_

Blaine was still asleep when Mairead quietly padded into the room in Kurt's comfy slippers. She had woken up five minutes before; she was getting hungry and needed to use the bathroom. Opening the door as softly as she could, she peeked in before walking in. Kurt was fast asleep on the bed with Blaine; his hand, as far as Mairead could tell because Kurt was curled up to Blaine's side under the blanket, was holding Blaine's hand. She smiled, they looked so perfect together. Mairead looked at the clock above Blaine's desk; it was a little after four in the morning and she was still tired. She grabbed her journal out of her backpack and a pair of sweatpants and a spare t-shirt, too. Going over to the desk, Mairead grabbed a packet of the natural fruit snacks. But before she went back to Kurt's room, she walked over to the bed where the two of them were sleeping. She found the thermometer on the nightstand and inserted it into Blaine's underarm.

Blaine stirred, opening his eyes and groaning. He still couldn't see anything without his glasses or contacts. "Mm, Mari?" He grumbled softly, slowly opening and closing his eyes. Blaine was slowly flexing his fingers and was surprised to find another hand in his right hand. He slowly turned his head and saw Kurt curled next to him, sleeping.

She smiled. "Yeah, it's me. Just wanted to check in with you. I can see Kurt's been taking good care of you."

Blaine also smiled a little smile. "I don't know what I would do without him, he's the glue that's keeping me together right now." He took a deep breath in through his nose, but stopped midway. "Hey, it doesn't hurt to breathe anymore! " Blaine slowly lifted his left hand, and the IV line, to his nose. He still felt the heat radiating from his healing nose. "Is it getting better? I can't tell." He whispered to Mairead.

She nodded. "It's still a little swollen though, so try not to move your head too much." A beeping alerted her, the thermometer was finished measuring his temperature. The monitor read 101.9 degrees. Mairead smiled at Blaine who was drowsily looking at her, waiting for her reaction. "Your fever is finally going down. Now it just needs to get down to about ninety-eight, ninety-nine for it to be in the normal range." She took out the thermometer and replaced on the nightstand, but something else cot her attention. There was bag full of brown-tinted syringes with a post-it note on top addressed to her. The note read:

_Mairead-_

_Give one syringe to Blaine if he wakes up and I haven't yet. Tell him it's for his infection on his forehead. It's an oral medication so he should drink the whole syringe and a few sips of water to wash the remnants down. If I'm still asleep when you read this, tell him I love him._

_-Kurt_

She took one of the syringes out of the bag and grabbed the empty cup on the small nightstand before going to the bathroom. After filling the cup with water, she walked back to Blaine and heard him mutter a soft "Ouch." Reaching the bed, she cocked an eyebrow up at him.

He looked at her embarrassingly. "I tried to raise my eyebrows… not a good idea."

Mairead chuckled softly before waving the syringe in front of him. Blaine looked confused. "What is that? It looks kinda familiar."

"It's something for your infection from your forehead gash. Kurt said he gave you one yesterday." Mairead whispered to him as she took the cap off. "Here, you just need to swallow this." She started to give him the syringe but remembered that both hands were somewhat occupied; one with the IV and the other with Kurt's hand. "Actually, let me help you. Open your mouth." He complied and she inserted the syringe until it touched the tip of his tongue. She pushed the plunger down until it was empty. Blaine's eyes were drooping by the time he finished the cup of water.

"I don't know why I'm so tired. I've been sleeping for what, the past three days? I need to get up and do something at least." Blaine sighed, shifting his weight on the bed to a more comfortable position. He looked down at his hand and started. "When did this blanket come out? I put it away after winter." He then looked at his slumbering boyfriend and then remembered. Blaine smiled and carefully lifted his IV hand to brush back the bit of hair from his forehead that was threatening to fall into Kurt's beautiful glasz eyes. His eyes teared up at the thought of telling Kurt what had happened. He didn't want to hurt Kurt with more hateful gestures that the world had thrown at him after he told of his story with the bullies he had to endure at his old school.

Mairead saw the gesture and touched Blaine's bare shoulder gently. "Hey, why don't you go to sleep for the next four hours or so? After that, let's see if you can walk around a bit. You've been in that bed for what, three days or something? I've lost track," She grinned. "And besides, you're getting laz-" She ducked as Blaine threw the empty cup at her head. "Okay! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She laughed softly, covering her face with her hands. "Go to sleep, Anderson. I'll wake you up in four hours." Blaine nodded and smiled at his best friend; well next to Kurt, of course! He drifted off thinking of the past memories he had with both Kurt and Mairead.

Mairead had snuck back into Kurt's room and had taken a seat in Kurt's plush desk chair and started writing in her journal. Her journal was her best friend during her horrible years and since then, she hasn't ever missed a day of writing in it. Well, maybe a few accidental days when she was too exhausted to anything but sleep; but even those days were rare. She had gone through at least ten journals since them and kept them in a safe box at the bank where her parents usually go to when they need to access their super important paperwork. Mairead wrote for about an hour and took her own advice to go to sleep for the next three hours.

_Tuesday, ten in the morning_

Blaine woke up to Kurt humming the song they were going to sing together at Regionals, Candles, by Hey Monday. Once Kurt reached the beginning of Blaine's part he started to sing in a whisper:

_And someday  
You will get back  
Everything you gave me_

Kurt turned his head to look at Blaine and softly joined in.

_Blow the candles out  
Looks like a solo tonight  
I'm beginning to see the light_

_Blow the candles out (The candles out)_

_Looks like a solo tonight (Solo tonight)_

They both smiled at each other as they sang the last line, perfectly harmonizing with the other.

_But I think I'll be alright._

Kurt moved in closer to Blaine. "I love you so much." And kissed Blaine passionately on the lips for what seemed like three minutes and only stopped when Blaine gently pushed Kurt away. He needed to catch his breath and put his finger to his lips and pointed to the door when Kurt looked confused. Kurt could hear the quietest giggling from behind the cracked door. He looked on the other side of the bed where he saw the messed up, but empty, sleeping bag. The two boys on the bed grinned.

"Let's get you up and sitting, Blaine. I don't think it'll hurt anything but I have to deal with a little something first." Kurt winked at Blaine. He took the empty cup from the nightstand, went to the bathroom and filled it up with the coldest water possible from the faucet, and walked to the door with the cup in hand hidden behind his back. He slowly opened up the door and quickly pushed his hand out, splashing the water on the two people. Kurt then slammed the door shut and locked it, laughing the whole time. Blaine joined in even though it hurt. They could both hear the pounding on the door as they begged to be let back in the room. Kurt finally opened the door when they finally apologized.

Mairead and Kurt helped Blaine up to a sitting position on the side of the bed, being wary of the IV and the lightheadedness that would happen. "Ugh, it feels weird. Is it normal to get dizzy?" Blaine groaned. He started to get up, but both Mairead and Kurt held him back down on the bed.

"Not until you feel normal again, not with you lightheaded. Else you're going to faint or have a horrible headache all day." Kurt told him sternly, Blaine groaned again.

Blaine looked at Mairead pleadingly. "I feel gross. Please let me go and take a shower?"

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "You heard what your boyfriend said. Besides, Carole's going to be here in like five minutes and we need to get you food and take that IV out _before_ you can do anything.

Joey dragged over Blaine's desk chair to the bed. "Here, I know you're getting sick of that bed." Mairead and Kurt carefully helped Blaine over to the chair.

Blaine felt even more lightheaded after those few steps. "Maybe it was a good idea not to get after all." He sighed in exhaustion, leaning his head back until it touched the back of the chair. Kurt and Mairead rolled their eyes. Joey handed his brother a quarter of a chocolate chip muffin. Blaine started eating it, making sounds of delight as it hit his empty stomach. He finished it in no time.

Carole knocked on the door before coming in. She was delighted to see Blaine in a chair, upright and talking. "Hey there. Feeling better, I see." Blaine nodded as he was drinking some water.

"Can I take a shower? I feel extremely gross right now…" Blaine asked, giving the cup back to Kurt.

"Just let me check your stitches, take your temperature one last time and take out your IV and you'll be free do almost anything. Okay, sweetie?" Carole told him. Blaine grunted in affirmation.

As Carole checked the bandages, Blaine kept talking with Kurt about what they needed to do about practicing for their duet at Regionals in three weeks.

"Everything looks okay, Blaine. The only thing is… you can't take a shower with the stitches in your forehead. You can wash hair but you can't get your forehead wet or another infection's going to be in the gash. There shouldn't be any scars after it heals; I used a very fine suture thread. So in a few days, I'll return and take out the thread. Until then, no showers, no pools, no wetness on those stitches or on the cuts on your chest; they don't have stitches, but to cut down the risk of infection. Okay, sweetheart?" Carole said to him as she snapped off her gloves. He nodded.

"Do you want me to help you take a bath instead? I'll wash your hair with some of my French shampoo Rachel got for me when she went over to Paris during her winter break. Your hair will be as soft as a whipped cream on a medium drip coffee." Kurt said excitedly.

Blaine groaned and mouthed to Mairead, who was covering her mouth trying not to laugh, _Rescue me? Please?_

She shook her head, smiling.

**Thank you guys for the support. Life still… really sucks right now, but it's getting molecularly better. The chapters that are going to be posted in the next month or so are going to be on the shorter side 'cause I'm finishing my senior year of high school but once I graduate and actually have time, here come the loooooong chapters. So get ready! You might have noticed I used Candles again in this chapter; it was only because the lyrics fit so well with Blaine and Kurt's, as well as Mairead's, chemistry with each other. Don't worry, there will be new songs for the chapter heads. Thanks, guys!**

**5-10-11**


	11. Just The Way You Are

"Kurt, don't you dare turn the water cold like you did last time I let you in my bathroom." Blaine said grumpily as he still had stiffness in his joints as he was getting up from the chair with Mairead and Joey's help. Kurt had gleefully bounded into Blaine's bathroom to fill up the bathtub for him.

"Blaine, it was only to get you actually wake up in time when we had a date to go to the theater for the showing of Wicked! You know how much I love that show and when Wes gave us those tickets, you know I just about died." Kurt shouted from the bathroom, his voice echoing out to the bedroom.

He groaned; it was when he had slept in too late for Kurt's comfort. "Fine, you win." Blaine yelled flatly. "Hey, help me over the drawers, you two? I need to get clean clothes and my swimming suit for this… ordeal. No, Joey; you are so not helping." Blaine pointed out as he opened his mouth. Joey pouted.

Mairead laughed at the brothers' antics. As they brought Blaine into the bathroom, Mairead playfully shoved Joey out the door and slammed it before he could get a word in. She could hear him harrumph behind the door. She quietly giggled to herself one last time as she was nearly falling down with Blaine's weight on her shoulder. "Kurt? Help?"

Kurt turned the faucet off before going to help her with Blaine. He closed the lid on the toilet and helped Mairead lead him over to sit him down.

Blaine sighed in relief; he was starting to get dizzy again from the movement. They sat him down on the seat, and Kurt was about to shoo her out the door but Blaine stopped him.

"Hey, as much as I love you, I think _she's_ more comfortable with um… helping me change… into a bathing suit." He finished quickly, looking quite embarrassed. Blaine looked down at his feet to hide his feelings from the boy he so loved that he was scared of hurting. He tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to overspill.

Kurt saw his expression and took a deep breath. He tipped Blaine's chin up with the tips of his fingers and kissed him gently and lovingly. Blaine's eyes never left his feet.

"Blaine, it's alright. Look at me? Please?" Kurt asked softly.

Blaine slowly looked up, biting his lip from crying. Kurt had a look of deep understanding in his face. A lone tear rolled down his red face. "I'm sorry! I know I'm b-being stupid bu-"Blaine was stopped by another kiss.

"Hush, I understand, Blaine. Really, I do. We'll talk, after you get cleaned up. I promise. I love you." With one last kiss, Kurt excited the bathroom. Closing the door behind him softly, he let out a big sigh. Kurt walked next door to his dorm room to clean up a bit himself. He knew that Blaine was scared of hurting him when Karofsky and the bullies at McKinley already terrorized him.

A few minutes later, dressed in a perfectly pressed pale violet shirt and purple tie with silver around the edge and cream pants with his favorite white no-shoestring, slip-on, suede-covered tennis shoes, he waited for Blaine to finish with his bath with Mairead.

He liked Mairead, a lot. _At least she's not a diva like Santana or Rachel. _ He thought amusingly as he tightened his tie up. _ I wonder how she and Blaine met. She seems like a perfect fit for him. Funny, fierce, obviously protective, but why do I feel like she's hiding something from the both of us? I mean, Mairead seems to have this dark cloud hanging just under the surface of her skin, like it's threatening to burst at any moment._

Kurt finished perfecting his outfit and went to hangout in Blaine's room next door. The door to his bathroom was still closed shut and quietly he pressed his ear to the door, trying to cause any noise that would alert them.

Blaine was sobbing quietly and Mairead was murmuring words in that language of hers that Kurt had yet to ask what it was.

Kurt sighed, suppressing an urge to knock down the door and comfort Blaine himself. He saw out of the corner of his eye a tall lanky boy leaning against the door frame, dark bags under his eyes. Kurt held up a finger, telling him to wait for a second. Nearly running over to Blaine's desk, he managed to find a post-it note and a pen. He stuck the note on the front of the bathroom door saying that he and Joey were down in the Japanese peace garden and that Blaine should bring the Frisbee he often had whenever they were outside.

Joey was quiet on the way down to the garden Kurt was leading him down the impressive mahogany staircase and out the clear glass doors. He looked around in wonder. The quiet rushing of the small waterfall over smooth river rocks in the middle of the area surrounded by cherry blossom trees and bonsai trees. There were benches situated around the koi pond that remained empty since Dalton was on spring break.

Kurt led Joey to a bench right in front of the pond, his personal favorite spot. Joey leaned tiredly against the back of the surprisingly comfortable wooden bench. Kurt slung an arm around the back of the bench, just letting him and Joey enjoy the silence for a few moments.

Joey leaned forward and put his face in his hands. Kurt saw this. "Hey, what's wrong? You know, well, kinda know in the time that we've actually known each other, that you can talk to me right?"

Silent tears leaked through Joey's hands and dripped down onto the smooth broad walking stones below their feet. He dropped his hands. "It's just that, I feel helpless against all of this. I mean, if this can happen to Blaine what'll happen to me when Dad blows up again?" Joey angrily shouted to Kurt.  
Kurt sighed, trying to come up with a response to Joey. "Sometimes, people do feel frozen when the situation occurs, Joey. It's alright to feel helpless. What you did to help Blaine wasn't helpless. What you did was brave, inspiring even. You did your best to help your brother through what you thought was the worst situation in the world." Kurt somehow flubbed out, not really thinking of what he was saying.

Joey, his face still in his hands, nodded. Kurt rubbed his back soothingly while trying to come up with something else to say to the brother. They just sat there in silence, working through their thoughts.

An hour later, they saw Blaine walking out on his own with Mairead by his side holding a white frisbee.

"Hey guys! What's up?" Mairead smiled at the duo on the bench. She held up the Frisbee, not waiting for their response. "Wanna play? It'll help get the some exercise into this lazy guy." She nudged Blaine in the side with her elbow.

Kurt looked and Joey and smiled, raised his eyebrows for a quick second; the non-verbal way to say _You ready?_ Joey nodded and smiled himself.

Blaine slowly made his way to Kurt's side, taking care not to trip over his feet. Kurt gently put his hands on both sides of Blaine's rib cage. He raised his eyebrows to say _You okay?_ Blaine got the hint and nodded before kissing him sweetly. Kurt responded in same. They could have gone on for awhile but broke apart when they both heard puckering sounds. Kurt opened his eyes to Mairead and Joey puckering their lips and making gooey faces at them. Blaine saw a mischievous smile grace Kurt's face. Kurt gave a quick peck on Blaine's cheek before lunging towards Mairead. She took off running and screaming sounds of laughter with Kurt on her tail. Joey helped his brother over the bench where he and Kurt were sitting earlier and watched the two of them chase each other. Mairead was clearly winning; however, Blaine knew that Kurt was faster than she would soon realize. She started to slow down after the third lap around the garden and that was when Kurt sped up enough to tackle her to the ground.

All four of them laughed when Mairead landed on the cold, hard springtime ground on her stomach with a loud "Oof!" followed by a Vietnamese expletive that no one understood except Blaine, who laughed the hardest. Kurt rolled off of her and on his back to he could breathe. After they caught their breath they followed Kurt and Blaine out of the garden and into the secluded dome that held a football field that had been put for the winter and spring for Dalton's inhouse soccer and flag football team.

"Why don't we just start throwing this around and let's see how fast and far Mr. Hummel here can run." Mairead said, tossing the Frisbee vertically up in the air and catching it. Blaine stuck his tongue out, knowing that Kurt and his brother were going to have a competition of who can run the fastest; Joey played soccer and lacrosse so he was naturally going to win. They had been having fun until the light inside the dome started to blacken and they headed inside to eat and so Blaine could take the medication Carole had given him.

They were talking in Blaine's room about TV shows when Joey noticed Blaine's eyes were drooping from exhaustion. "Hey, looks like big bro's getting a little sleepy." Joey stated jokingly.

Blaine smiled tiredly. "You could say that. I think today's been the most movement I've had since we've gotten here." He said, yawning the last word.

Mairead chuckled. "Sorry, but before you can sleep, I promised my parents that you would talk to them. Else, my mom would have sent an entire emergency department here to check on you." She made a face. Blaine chuckled softly as she speed-dialed her mom, closing his eyes briefly and leaning his head on Kurt's shoulder on his bed.

Mairead hung on the line until Sarah picked up her cell phone on the first ring. "Hello? Mom?" She asked tentatively.

"Oh, Mairead, finally you called. I was getting worried. Do you know how many days it's been since you promised you would call?" Sarah didn't let her daughter answer. "It's been two days! Now, where's Blaine and how is he doing? And don't you dare skimp on the details." Sarah told her as sternly as she could considering she was relieved that she had finally called.

Mairead sighed loudly into the phone while walking out the door for a little privacy from the boys. "Blaine's… going to be alright. He's got a large laceration on this gash which was sutured up with dissolvable sutures, multiple small lacerations to his upper chest around his clavicle, the cartilage in his nose was broken and it was set by Joey but we might have to bring him into the hospital for an x-ray if it's not set right, and sheer exhaustion." Mairead rattled off to her mother while counting them off on her fingers, not leaving anything out. "Carole, Blaine's boyfriend's mother, is an ED nurse who came by and did everything at Dalton. Blaine had spiked a fever for about two days with a temperature high of 103.5 degrees. Carole inserted an IV into the back of his left hand and gave him saline and intravenous ibuprofen for the fever. He was anxious when it was time to insert the IV so she gave him a sedative. After I came back after coming home, Blaine had a bad flashback. It didn't cause anything damaging besides making him bleed a little bit more out of the gash on his forehead, but I changed the bandage on his forehead and gave him the chocolate ice cream Kurt had picked up on his way back to Dalton after dropping off Carole at his house. Carole came back later that night and gave him this drug that was a painkiller and a sleeping aid that helped him fall asleep.

"She left behind a bag full of syringes filled with ten milliliters of oral amoxicillin that he's supposed to have every six hours or so to stave off any infections that the broken plate could have gotten in the lacerations. Today was the first day he was on his feet for the last few days; he seems fine if a little stiff and unsteady. He was a little cold when we went outside for a few hours today." Mairead took a deep breath. "I think that's all of it, Mom." She finished quietly. Listening to the phone, she could hear the barely noticeable scratching of a pen against paper coming from the other end.

"Sorry, honey, just taking notes for the future. I know you just gave me the facts about him, but _how_ is he?" Sarah asked gently.

Sighing deeply and knowing what she meant, "He's… trying to hang in there. But I'm scared he's going to snap. And soon. I wouldn't be surprised if it happens when I'm still here. I'm scared, Mom. If this is what Matthew can do to Blaine, I'm scared what'll happen when Joey goes home." Her voice quivering as she confided in her adoptive mom.

"I know, sweetie, I know. But hang in there, as soon as the situation calms down, we'll get Blaine and Joey the help they need; okay? Now, where's Blaine? I want to talk with him a bit before he falls asleep from today's exertions." Sarah told her. "And Mairead? Sweetie?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm so proud of you. And I love you." Mairead could hear the pride and love in her voice over the phone.

"I love you too, Mom." She finished as she walked in the door. Looking around in the room, she could hear Joey brushing his teeth in Blaine's bathroom and Kurt singing softly to Blaine, who looked asleep. Mairead caught the last few lyrics he was singing:

_When I see your face, there's not a thing that I would change  
Cause you're amazing, just the way you are  
And when you smile, the whole world stops and stares for a while  
Because Blaine, you're amazing, just the way you are_

She smiled at the slight alteration to the lyrics. Mairead walked over to the bed. She smiled to Kurt before gently shaking Blaine's shoulder to wake him up.

"Hey, you. I know you want to sleep, but you need to talk to my mom just for a minute or two, okay?" She said, handing the phone over to the drowsy Blaine. He nodded and slowly sat up with Kurt's help and leaning his naked torso against the headboard.

Kurt gave her a look, asking her with his facial expressions if she'll stay here for a bit. Mairead got the hint and nodded. He nodded back and got off the bed as she sat on the edge of it. Kurt ran out the door and into his dorm room to change into his dark blue silk pajamas and brush his teeth. It took him all of five minutes, considering that he decided to forgo his moisturizing routine for the night. Going back into Blaine's room, he saw Mairead humming softly while rubbing his arm that he tucked back under his Gryffindor blanket. Joey had finished in the bathroom and was gathering his sleeping bag.

"I'm going to sleep on the floor in your room, Kurt. If it's okay with you?" Joey asked him softly as Kurt slid into the bed underneath the blanket besides his brother. He rolled his eyes, cocking his eyebrow up as he nodded at Joey.

Joey grinned as he made the gooey faces he and Mairead had done earlier and bolted out of the room before Kurt could do anything. Kurt rolled his eyes again. Mairead just chuckled.

"Wake me up if he needs anything?" Mairead softly asked Kurt. He nodded. She walked next door to Kurt's room to write in her journal and sleep.

**Sorry for such the long delay! Life just kinda got in the way and I kept revising this chapter because I couldn't get my ideas in order. This chapter is kinda crappy and I really do apologize. Next chapter will be kinda an angsty one. And please, if you have any ideas about what you might think will happen, please leave a word or two in a review and I really do read them. Thank you guys so, so, so, SO much for your support.**

**7-29-11**


	12. I Gotta Feeling

**WARNING: Profanity and somewhat graphic descriptions are in this chapter along with trigger material below. I apologize for any discomfort, truly I do.**

_Thursday, around two in the afternoon_

Things had gone well for the past two days; Blaine's cuts were healing nicely and quickly, Mairead, Blaine, and Joey caught up on much needed sleep, and Kurt was continuing to practice for his duet with Blaine. But it had come to the point when Mairead and Joey had to go home because the Warblers were coming back four days early to work on choreography and music for the upcoming Regionals competition a week from Saturday. Blaine had dressed in his sweatpants and a long-sleeved t-shirt from Kurt's insistence that he would get cold from the fifty-ish degrees outside.

"Do you really have to go?" Blaine asked Mairead wistfully from in front of her orange Honda Accord. He was eternally grateful for what she had done to help him and Joey, but she was going to miss his best friend.

Mairead closed her eyes briefly and nodded, composing herself. She didn't want to leave either, but the Warblers were coming and she didn't was to cause them any disturbances by her being there. "Yes, Blaine, for both our sakes, I think it's better if I go right now so you don't get too distracted when you're practicing with Kurt and your Warblers for your competition. Don't worry; we'll see each other again next Saturday. I'm going to make sure that Joey, my family and I don't miss this. Besides, I've already heard a little snippet of your duet with Kurt." She winked with a smile. They hugged tightly when they heard Joey and Kurt coming out with the rest of the stuff Joey had brought with him. Mairead surprised Blaine by whispering in his ear a phrase she reserved only for the closest of friends. "I love you, Blaine. You are my brother and I love you." She broke apart hugged Kurt before heading to start the car.

Blaine hugged Joey tightly and a few tears leaked out of his eyes. "Skype me as soon as you're safe, Joey. I need to see you when you get home." He sternly told his younger brother, looking him in the eye. Joey nodded and went to sit in the passenger side car. Blaine and Kurt waved to them as they drove out the gates of Dalton's visitor parking lot and onto the road that would take them two hours to get back to Mairead's house. Going back into the student dorms, Blaine felt a little lonely, but cheered up at the thought of Wes, David and the rest of the Warblers coming back later that day.

Both Kurt and Blaine went into Blaine's room to relax for a bit more before the chaos would start.

Kurt was thinking deeply about what Joey had told him when Blaine was still unconscious. Joey had told him that there was a video on Blaine's iTouch that showed what happened after Blaine's dad threw the plate at his head.

"Blaine?"

Blaine looked up from his laptop he had settled on top of his blanket, with Kurt besides him lounging. "Yeah?"

Kurt bit his lip, apprehensive. "When I was talking to Joey, while you were still knocked out, he told me that you recorded a video on your iTouch…" Kurt looked at his boyfriend, hoping he got the hint.

Blaine looked away, once again ashamed; he nodded just once. He never intended to show Kurt this soon about what had happened in the bathroom. "I… don't think you want to see, Kurt. I'm screaming in pain in this… Considering that you've already done so much, I don't want to have nightmares because of me." He told him sadly.

"Blaine! For the last time! I don't care how much I've done for you. You're my boyfriend and I. Love. You." Kurt nearly yelled. He quickly calmed down and put a hand under the side of his cheek, feeling the stubble.

"I-I'm sorry! I-I just feel like I'm going to lose you after you finding y-you." Kurt sighed, feeling regret at Blaine's scared tone of voice.

"Listen to me, Blaine. You're not going to lose me, _ever_. I will promise you that, Blaine Zachary Anderson, I will not go anywhere. I am yours forever." Kurt promised; feeling like it sealed the deal for life.

Blaine dumped the laptop on the bed and kissed Kurt passionately and urgently. Kurt could feel this and put a hand on Blaine's chest, trying not to feel the scars that had been carved into his beautiful boyfriend's chest all those years ago.

Kurt finally ended the kiss when he ran out of air. He chuckled at Blaine's faint blush in his cheeks and noticed him trying not to yawn. "Why don't you take a nap? I'll wake you up when the boys get here. Seriously, Blaine; you do not want to look like disaster like when you woke up with a hangover at my house after Rachel's party a few weeks ago." Kurt said dryly when Blaine started to voice his dissent. He finally relented with one last kiss before snuggling under his Gryffindor blanket Mairead and her family had gotten for him.

Kurt made sure he was fast asleep before escaping into his room for a shower and to do his quite late moisturizing and cleansing routines to get rid of the blackheads he was sure were popping up on his nose from the last few days.

_Three hours later_

Blaine woke up feeling warm and happy, and with his head under his pillow instead of on top. His hand searched his night stand for his glasses he had taken to wearing as wearing his contacts were getting annoying. Putting his black half-framed glasses on his nose required work so he didn't accidently cause himself pain from his forehead. Blaine laid there for a few minutes, waking himself up by humming a few choice songs from a certain soundtrack composed by John Williams.

He took a deep breath in through his nose and slowly pushed his way up to sitting on the edge of his bed. Gingerly setting a foot on the floor and using the bed as his support from the dizziness that came from standing up, he made his way to his bathroom to take a look at himself; it had been days since he saw his face in a mirror. Blaine gaped at what he saw.

Touching his nose gently, it was mottled purple and black all the way up to the space between his eyes. He hesitantly pressed down with the barest pressure and the pain came back with a vengeance. Wincing, he took his hand off and looked at his forehead.

_Should I or shouldn't I? _ Blaine contemplated, wanting to take off the big white gauze bandage. He took off his glasses and set them on the white marble countertop and looked in the mirror fuzzily. Peeling off the medical tape, quite slowly, from one side of his forehead took time as the tape hurt like being slapped after every second of being pulled off. Eventually, the whole bandage came off and Blaine leaned in closer to the mirror to see how big of gash he really had. It ran along the center of his forehead, stopping just before the middle of his right eyebrow and ran the entire length of his left eyebrow. Eleven tightly bound and off-clear stitches ran the length of the gash. Blaine hoped it wouldn't leave too noticeable of a scar when it finished healing. He would have to thank Carole later for using the dissolvable stitches instead of silk thread stitches. He hesitantly touched the stitches with his fingers, feeling the bumpy texture.

"What are you doing?" a startled voice came from the doorway to his bathroom.

Blaine jumped up and swore, his fingers accidently pressed down on his stitches in surprise. Kurt cocked an eyebrow at his boyfriend.

"Um," Blaine said sheepishly. "Trying to imagine how dashing I'm going to look after this heals up?"

"You're already as dashing as someone who has my love for eternity." Kurt rolled his eyes and pulled Blaine into a half hug. He took a look at the two of them in the mirror while Blaine groped around the countertop for his glasses and put them quite gently on his bruised bridge of a nose. He could see Kurt smiling at the two of them in the mirror.

"What are you thinking right now, Kurt?" Blaine quietly asked as he looked in the mirror at his boyfriend's happy face.

Kurt continued gazing at the couple in the mirror, thinking that it could not have been more perfect. "We're perfect for each other, Blaine. It's like… looking at this, it… make me feel complete in a way."

Blaine lowered his eyes and whispered, "Even when I'm like this? Bruised and broken?" He felt fingers under his chin, lifting it up and turning his head. He was soon looking into Kurt's beautiful glasz eyes.

"Even like this. I don't care what you look like, Blaine. I don't care if you decided to shave your head off or grow a three foot long curly beard. You are perfect for me. And I wouldn't change a thing." Kurt said so sweetly that Blaine felt his eyes water. His boyfriend kissed him on the lips and Blaine responded passionately, putting his hand behind Kurt's head to deepen the kiss. Kurt finally ended the kiss when he ran out of air, leaning his forehead against Blaine's; and totally forgetting about the stitches.

"Ow! Kurt! The stitches!" Blaine exclaimed, the pain returning.

Kurt quickly jumped back about six inches, but remained in Blaine's embrace. His eyes wide open. "Oops, sorry!" Kurt smiled apologetically. "Why don't you get cleaned up? I think the boys are coming in half an hour. Take a shower, your clothes will be here after you're done." Kurt said. Blaine did love it when Kurt picked out his clothes because he was jeans and t-shirt kind of guy; that aspect drove Kurt nuts whenever he needed Blaine to dress up for an occasion.

Blaine grinned. He pecked Kurt on the lips before heading out into his room, with Kurt following behind him, to grab some clean boxers from his dresser. Heading back into his bathroom, he leaned his back against the closed door, smiling. He loved Kurt so much; he thought his heart would burst. Taking care not to bump his stitches as he took off his t-shirt and sweatshirt, he saw his collarbone dotted with cuts and small white bandages. He just glanced at them before he turned his gaze towards his scar on his left pectoral muscle. Blaine lightly ran his fingers over the six letter slur before sighing. He put the bandage back on his forehead, remembering what Mairead had told him about not getting the stitches wet until they were completely dissolved in another three days or so.

Kurt was in Blaine's room after getting himself dressed in a dark purple dress shirt and tucked the shirt into his black skinny jeans. He had decided to leave off the tie until Blaine was finished with his shower. Searching through Blaine's dresser, he was putting ideas of what his boyfriend would look best in. Taking out a light blue polo shirt, he paired it with a pair of black skinny jeans he thought would emphasize Blaine's calf muscles and make him look fabulous. He grinned as he knocked on the bathroom door.

"Yeah?" Blaine's voice answered, echoing slightly in the bathroom.

"I'm opening the door, you decent in there?" Kurt asked, blushing slightly. Not that he wouldn't mind seeing Bl-

"Yeah, I'm just finishing shaving. You can open the door, Kurt." Blaine replied.

Opening the door, Kurt saw he was in his boxers and he had managed to put his usual half a bottle of hair gel on his curly head of hair. Kurt's faint tinge of red in his face had gone to a full blown deep red blush. He loved seeing Blaine in nothing but his boxers, the few peeks he had snuck when Blaine wasn't paying attention.

Blaine smiled affectionately at Kurt, seeing his blush fill his pale face. "What? You like seeing me like this?"

Kurt shifted his eyes diagonally and bit the corner of his lip, too embarrassed to answer. Blaine laughed at his expression. He pulled Kurt into a hug and kissed him on the temple. Kurt smiled back and laughed a bit.

"I have your clothes on your bed. I'll meet you down in the rehearsal hall?" Blaine nodded. "Oh, and Carole says you can leave off the bandage if you want, it'll be better if it's exposed to air, so it can heal faster. And don't forget to take the oral med before you come down." Kurt kissed Blaine on the cheek as he released him from his embrace to go put his tie on.

Mairead pulled into her driveway a little faster than she wanted to. She and Joey had taken an extra hour to get home because she thought the kid need a little more fun before he went back to his house; she was trying to prolong that confrontation with Matthew. So, Mairead decided to stop at a lake on the way home and they crumbled up one of the left over muffins they brought with them and throw it into the lake where ducks and birds were flocking to eat them.

"Do I have to go home?" Joey said tiredly. He really did not want to face his father after what happened with Blaine.

Mairead sighed, not wanting to tell him. "Yeah, Joe. You kinda have too. Your father's going to get suspicious if he sees me and the car here in the driveway and you're not with me. Do you want my dad and me to come with you? "

Joey muttered something under his breath that sounded like "… little kid anymore."

Mairead pretended not to hear that. "What?"

"Nothing!" He said quickly.

She grinned and mussed up his hair. "C'mon, let's get you inside. But listen, if you ever need anything, and I mean _anything_ at all, just call me on my cell phone. It's always on." Looking him in the eye, she said seriously. Joey nodded solemnly.

They were walking to the front door when Matthew burst out the door and grabbed Joey by the back of the shirt to get him inside. Joey fought and Mairead managed to get a good blow to Matthew's gut to get him to back off. Matthew stopped trying to do anything physical to the two of them, for now.

"You. Get your butt inside the house, _now_. I'll deal with you after I'm done with her." He said dangerously to his son. Joey defiantly started to open his mouth but by the look and shake of Mairead's face, he decided to grudgingly do what his father said.

Mairead felt a sense of dread come over her when Matthew turned to face her. "So, you decide to sneak into my house in the middle of the night, take my son and my failure of a son back to Dalton and keep them there without my permission." Matthew sneered at her.

"_Blaine_ needed to be somewhere else other than here and your stupid way of treating him. I mean honestly, is this how you treat your own _son_? You broke him, you know that? You _broke_ your own freaking _son _you son of a bitch! And you call yourself a father after doing this. I'm surprised that he hasn't called the police yet to have you charged with chil-" A punch to her stomach stopped her from finishing her angry speech. She was knocked to the ground and all of her breath went out of her body.

Matthew stomped his way to where she was lying on the ground. "Don't. Ever. Tell. Me. What. To. Do." With that, he started to pummel her.

Mairead blocked most of his punches except a few missed ones to her face; she could feel her nose bleeding and taste the blood dripping into her mouth. She could blurrily see what was coming next because he had well-aimed punch to her eye, knocking her glasses off her face and pain blossoming in her eye. Her left hand and wrist she could feel him stomping on. Mairead squeezed her eyes shut for the final blow that would render her unconscious when she heard someone knocking Matthew to the ground. She just lay there, listening to the scuffle trying to identify who her savior was.

"You don't ever touch my daughter, you son of a bitch!" Jason roared as he started punching Matthew in the face.

Sarah and Nick ran over to Mairead. Nick crouched in front of his sister while Sarah started to see if she was conscious.

"Nick, call 911. Now!" Sarah told Nick firmly.

"No!" Mairead gasped. "Don't… call. He… will make worse… for Joey." She gasped.

Sarah and Nick looked at each other. "Okay, sweetie. We won't. I promise. Nick, carry her inside the house." Nick nodded. He tried as gently as he could to gather her up in his arms, trying to cause any pain. Mairead tried her hardest not to make any sounds of the pain but couldn't help herself when he accidently bumped the hand Matthew stomped on. Nick muttered his apologies and ran as fast as he could to their house. Sarah went to pull Jason off of Matthew.

"Jason, stop!" Sarah said urgently, concern lacing her voice. "We have to get our daughter help. Now."

Jason stopped punching Matthew, blood covering his fist. "That's for my daughter and Blaine, you piece of shit." He whispered dangerously. Jason spat on the ground near her daughter's best friend's father.

"So, that's where your loyalties lie then, huh? To fags? To my piece of shit so-" He didn't get to finish as Jason kicked him in the crotch before walking back to his house.

Sarah could barely see Miranda in the doorway, hiding. Her heart ached for her, what did Matthew do to her after Blaine left? She ran back to her house, wanting to see her daughter.

Nick had brought Mairead upstairs to her bedroom, laid her on top of the blankets and ran back downstairs to grab a big bowl of ice for her injuries when he heard his parents coming in the door. He stared wide-eyed at his father's fist, covered in scarlet red blood. Jason shook his head, meaning _Don't ask right now_. Nick concentrated on getting the bowl of ice while Sarah raced upstairs to the bedroom and Jason ran to the bathroom to wash his hands of the blood.

Running up the stairs himself with a big bowl of ice, and nearly tripping three times on the spiral staircase, he was finally able to take stock of what happened to his sister. Sarah was propping her up on her lap while trying to keep her awake.

"Nick, go to the linen closet and get all the towels in there. Now!" Sarah said firmly, trying to keep Mairead from sleeping. She took a hand full of ice and placed in on her newly-forming black eye. Nick came back with the towels and Sarah instructed him to make an ice pack out of the smaller towels and wrap her hand with the impromptu ice packs. They all could hear Jason stampeding his way up the stairs.

"We have to get her to the hospital, I don't like the way her wrist is swelling up and she's having trouble staying conscious." Sarah stated, shifting into her doctor voice with absolutely no emotion in her voice. Jason nodded and pulled out his cell phone, intending to call 911.

Mairead could see dizzily out of her non-blackened eye the outline of her father about to punch in the numbers. "No! Dad, don't!" She gasped loudly; Mairead had been gritting her teeth to rein in the pain. "It'll make things worse for Joey and Blaine if that bastard sees police cars out here. Just l-let Mom t-take me to the ED. I-I'll just say I t-tripped down the s-sta-airs." Pain making its way into her voice.

Jason, Sarah, and Nick all looked at each other for a full second before springing into action. They knew she made complete sense, not wanting to argue. Nick quickly made his way back down to the kitchen to grab another bowl of ice from the ice dispenser in the door of the freezer; Jason gathered Mairead in his arms and walked as smoothly and quickly as possible down to the garage. Sarah bolted downstairs, cell phone already to her ear and muttering rapidly into it, to start up the red Honda Pilot. They all met in the garage where Nick got in first in the back seat with the bowl of ice at his feet, Sarah right behind Nick, and Jason bringing up the rear with his battered daughter. Jason slowly "slid" her in with Mairead's head lying on Nick's lap and her legs on Sarah's lap. He slammed the door shut and ran his way to the driver's side and practically jumped in. Jason nearly broke the wing mirror, backing out so fast. Sarah barely just reminded him to close the garage as they were out the driveway.

"Get her to the ED doors, they know they're expecting us. They already have the scanners and radiology free for her. Seems it was a calm day today." Sarah told her husband.

Jason flashed a quick half-smile as he concentrated on breaking the speed limit to get to the hospital.

Looking out of the drawing room windows, Joey couldn't help but feel a sense of dread when he saw the red Pilot speeding away with his neighbors in it. He jumped when he heard the front door of his house slam and his father roared his name. Joey swallowed a big lump in his throat and slowly made his way down stairs.

Jason could see people in pale blue scrubs waving him down outside the ED doors where Sarah worked. The screeched to a stop and the door behind the passenger side seat was wretched open. Mairead could feel herself being pulled, gently, off of her mom's and Nick's lap and put on to a gurney and the odd sensation of being wheeled down a white hallway. One person was cutting off her bloodied and dirtied clothes and covering her body with a hospital gown quickly. Someone's finger peeled back her good eye's eyelid and shined a too bright light into it. She was so tired, all she wanted to do was sleep.

"Mairead? Mairead, honey? It's Rebecca, your mom's friend. If you're still awake, say yes." A frantic, but collected voice said as she could feel herself stop moving and more hands touch her body.

"Y-yes." She slurred.

"Good, good job. I need you to keep talking to me, okay?" Rebecca told her as she inserted an IV needle and tube in the underside of her right wrist. She could feel liquids seeping in her blood and spreading all over her body.

"M-hmm…" Mairead started to drift off.

"Don't you dare Mhmm me, miss smarty pants." Mairead chuckled a bit at the remark. "There you go, just keep talking to me, Mairead. What's your favorite song? Can you sing me some of the lyrics" Rebecca said in a rushed voice. She could feel herself moving again and see the lights flashing by her behind closed eyelids.

"S-sure," she slurred. "I-I gotta feeling, That tonight's gunna a be a g-good ni-ght, That to-night's gunna be a good good n-ight." Mairead whispered as she continued watching the lights flash by.

"That's right sweetie, keep singing." Rebecca told her distractedly. Mairead could hear other voices, including her parents talking. The pain was starting to get to her and she started gritting her teeth, but kept singing and trying to remember the lyrics.

"Tonight's the night, let's live it u-up, I got my m-money, let's s-spend it up, g-go round and smash 'em." She could feel herself being lifted up and transferred to a hard cold table, the lights no longer flashing by her.

"Good job, keep singing, okay? You're going into a MRI scanner, now, Mairead. But I want you to keep singing okay?" Rebecca told her soothingly. "I'll still be listening but voice is going to sound a little muffled because I'm going to talk to you through a microphone, okay?" Mairead gave her the barest of nods as she could hear the motors of the machine inserting her in the big cylindrical machine.

"Okay, honey, it's Rebecca again, I want to hear those lyrics!" A female voice sounded out of the speakers near her head as a loud whirring sound started.

"Let go my g-gun, jump up that s-sofa, let's g-g-get it on. I k-know what we'll have a ba-ll, if we get down and g-go and j-just lose it a-all." She slurred the rest of the song and heard the whirring sound stop. Mairead felt herself coming out of the machine and transferred back to the gurney.

"Excellent job, honey. Now, I'm going to give you something that's going to put you to sleep. You're going to be fine, Mairead." Rebecca told her softly.

Mairead could feel a warm liquid coming through her wrist and spreading throughout her body, like the feeling of warm bed beckoning to her. She fell into the comforting and kind blackness quickly.

"What do her scans look like?" Sarah asked softly from behind the MRI technician's chair. She had been allowed to follow the ED doctors in, but wasn't allowed to interact with her daughter.

"Everything's clean, there's nothing out of the ordinary. Her brain shows no sign of bleed or even of a concussion. She got lucky." The technician told her and the doctors scattered around the cramped computer room.

Sarah noticed a doctor nod to Rebecca who got up and pulled a syringe out of her pocket. She got up out her place at a computer screen with a microphone by her. Watching through the protective glass, Rebecca inserted the syringe to her adopted daughter's IV and saw her quickly nod off.

"We're going to take her to radiology for that wrist and CT, just in case, now, Sarah. I think it'll be fine for you to go back with Jason and your son in the triage center." Todd, one of her friends in the ED, said. She nodded and headed out the door. Mairead was wheeling by when Rebecca stopped the gurney. Sarah smiled gratefully towards one of best girlfriends and kissed her sleeping daughter on the forehead and smoothing her black hair back from her face before she headed off for radiology.

Sarah returned to the ED and into the room where Nick was leaning his head against the wall and Jason pacing the small room. They both snapped to attention when Sarah quietly opened the door.

"Her MRI scans are clear. She doesn't have any brain damage. They're taking her to radiology now for her wrist and CT just in case. Rebecca gave her a sedative. She's sleeping right now." Sarah simply said. The both of them breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed a bit.

Five minutes later, the phone rang. "Dr. Stryka speaking." She listened for a minute before her face brightened up. "Thank you so much, Rebecca. Call me when she's in her room? Thanks!" She hung up and crossed the room to the computer with the duo monitors, one for the doctor and the other for the patient, and turned it on. Logging into her system, she saw black and white images fill the screen. Jason and Nick looked confused for a second then realized it was Mairead's x-rays.

"Doesn't look like there was anything broken." Nick softly said, thinking he was wrong.

Sarah smiled. "You're right, Nick. Nothing was broken or even cracked. The only problem with her hand was that some of her fingers popped out of the socket, but they corrected that. That's why you see some of her fingers are shorter at the top, see?" She pointed at the top of the monitor with the mouse arrow, shower where her middle finger and ring finger were almost level with her index finger. Both Jason and Nick winced. The phone rang again.

"Dr. Styka speaking." Sarah answered automatically. "Okay, fifth floor, room 311. Thanks, Rebecca. I'll meet you up there. Thanks, bye." She replaced the receiver back on the phone mounted to the wall. "She's got her settled in on the fifth floor in room 311 and they have put a temporary brace on her hand. The CT scans were clear, so no internal bleeding. She's also on morphine so when she wakes up, she might be… out of it." Sarah told her husband and son tiredly, but with a smile.

Jason simply nodded. "Let's go."

As they were in the elevator, Todd, the ED doctor attending to Mairead met them from the third floor. She would have to spend the night in the hospital, but she could go home in the morning.

Reaching the fifth floor and finding her room, Mairead was still on the narrow hospital bed. A heart monitor was beeping with the rhythm of her heart beat. Jason went to sit down by her right side and picked up her hand and kissed it. Nick sat on the chair near Mairead's feet, feeling the exhaustion creep into his head. Sarah went to the computer where her daughter's records were onscreen and clicked around a bit.

"She's on morphine for the pain, saline for fluids, and the sedative is going to wear off soon and she's going to wake up pretty soon." Sarah quietly said. She crossed over to the other side of the room and took a seat beside her husband and waited for Mairead to wake up.

It wasn't until about nine at night when she started to come to with small crying sounds. _Oh shitty, shitty, shit, shit._ Sarah mentally chanted to herself. She totally forgot about Mairead's drugged nightmares. She and Jason looked at each other. Jason was thinking the same thing by the way his eyes looked. Nick was snoozing in the chair by her feet and didn't hear a thing.

Sarah went over to the other side of the bed, lowered the railing, and sat on the edge. She gently gathered up her daughter in her hands and made shushing noises. "Shh, shh. Honey, you're okay. You're okay. Wake up, sweetheart, I'm here. Mom's here and so is Dad and Nick." Sarah pointed her eyes towards Nick. Jason quietly woke him up and came back to his seat by his daughter. Nick sat on the edge of the bed near Sarah and rubbed her leg that was covered by the blanket.

Mairead slowly came to, making louder and louder sobbing noises until she opened her eyes. "M-Mom? Dad? N-Nick?" She stuttered, gazing blurrily around the unfamiliar room. She sniffled, trying to keep the mucus from running out of nose.

"Shh, I'm here, I'm here." Sarah whispered into her ear, rocking back and forth.

"Sarah," Jason said. Sarah looked up and saw Jason wide eyed. She looked back down and saw Mairead was almost ready to vomit. She grabbed the kidney shaped bowl and put it under her chin just in time. There we strands of a dark brown liquid in the saliva that came out of her mouth and into the bowl. Nick saw it and looked at Sarah questioningly.

"She must have swallowed some of the blood that came from her nose." Sarah quietly said.

Mairead vomited for the next ten minutes, emptying the contents of her stomach. Once she was done, Jason got her a cup of water. She swished the water around in her mouth before spitting it into the bowl. Sarah used the bed controls to move the head of the bed up so she could lie down, but still see everyone.

"How long?" She rasped, her voice scratchy.

"It's been nearly four hours since you were admitted." Jason gently said.

Mairead nodded and slowly blinked her eyes, still drowsy from the sedative. She didn't want to go back to sleep even though her parents were here; she would go back to the nightmare.

Sarah smoothed back her long hair from her face. "You'll go home tomorrow, sweetie. You just have to stay the night tonight. And you'll go home tomorrow morning, I promise." She nodded off again. Once she was fitfully asleep, Sarah whispered "Jason, you and Nick go home and sleep. I'll stay with her."

"No, honey, I'll stay with her." Jason argued quietly.

"No, you go, you know where you parked."

"Yes, but you are clearly exhausted. You go home."

Nick rolled his eyes. "Why don't you two go home and I'll stay here?" He said. Both parents cocked an eyebrow at him. He rolled his eyes again.

"Fine, you stay here, Sarah." Jason conceded. She threw up her hands.

"Thank you!" Jason and Nick gave her exasperated looks. "Nick, when you come back tomorrow, bring a pair of her sweatpants, a tank-top, and her orchestra jacket. Oh, and her sandals, the flip-flops not the other ones." Nick nodded.

Jason stood up and kissed Sarah and his daughter's forehead before dragging Nick out of the room.

Sarah sighed and settled into the uncomfortable chair for the night, watching her daughter endure her nightmares.

**Whew! This is the longest chapter I think I've written. I hope you guys liked it. I know it's getting a bit unrealistic, but I wanted to highlight the brutality that Matthew could go to. I know I left a bit of a cliffhanger in the middle with Joey, but rest assured, what happened to him will soon come to light. Next chapter will be mostly Kurt and Blaine Skyping with Mairead and Joey, and attending Warbler rehearsal. Please, please, please review and thank you guys so much for reading!**

**Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY J.K. ROWLING AND HARRY POTTER! :D**

**7-31-11**


	13. Chapter 13

_Friday, nine in the morning_

Mairead was dressed and sitting in a wheelchair as her mother and her college finished up the paperwork for her discharge. Nick had brought the clothes Sarah had instructed him to bring last night. Yawning, she closed her eyes but not quite dozing; she had had a bad night and woken up several times despite the drugs. Thinking of waking up her mother, she decided not to, considering how much hell she had put her family through when she had ranted to that bastard Joey called his father.

"I set your laptop on your bed stand so when you get home, you can Skype Blaine. He's been calling me since last night asking me why you weren't answering." Nick said as he was playing on his iPhone. "Joey was bugging me too. He seemed really disturbed… you actually might want to call him first, Mari."

She leaned back into the wheelchair and forgetting that the back of her head had nothing to lean against and groaned. The nausea had come back and she felt like puking up the bland oatmeal she had been served for breakfast, eating only a spoonful or two before pushing it away. Swallowing a mouth full of saliva in an attempt to prevent that from happening, she opened her blurry eyes; Nick had forgotten to bring her extra pair of glasses.

Sarah and a hospital volunteer came back into the room. "Ready to go, honey?" Mairead nodded slowly.

Jason was waiting by the patient discharge doors with the backseat door open and ready for his daughter to get in. Mairead felt even more nauseated from the elevator ride down and going down the smooth ramp to the doors. She took a deep breath when the automatic doors opened and felt better, but still a little nauseous. Nick helped her up from the wheelchair and into the seat that Jason had leaned back for her and helped her with the seat belt before climbing in from the other side of the car behind his dad. Sarah was the last to go in after bidding the volunteer good-bye.

The car ride home was thankfully short and Mairead was dozing for most of it. Sarah and Jason helped her up the spiral staircase to her room and Sarah helped her into her more comfortable clothes; an old soccer jersey from her early association soccer days and sports shorts. Propping herself up on pillows, she grabbed her laptop with the charging cord attached from her bed stand. She booted up the computer and her Skype window. She video called Joey, who was online and available. Joey answered within the first three rings. When he first saw her, he was astonished.

Joey was dumbfounded; he hadn't realized that his father would go to this extreme after teaching him and Blaine to be courteous to girls early while they were growing up. Mairead had a black eye that was nearly swollen shut and getting worse, before it could get better, a slightly red nose, and an exhausted and slightly sick expression.

"Hey you. I would smile, but it kinda hurts to have my cheek muscles to move up into a black eye." She chuckled without smiling. "How are you?"

Joey bit his lip and bowed his head a little. Mairead noticed that he had a very faint red mark across his face that she wouldn't have noticed if he moved his face. "I'm… fine.. Dad just kinda had a… fit after he and you fought. Blaine's been calling me and asking about you. I think he's online right now. Do you want to do a group chat?" He said in a rush.

"Sure." Mairead said hesitantly. _Do I really want Blaine and Kurt to see me like this? I just got done helping him… I really don't want to hurt him anymore than I have to with me looking like this…_ She thought as the phone rang to Blaine's laptop. He picked up on the fourth ring.

Kurt and Blaine were both smiling and ecstatic, if a little frazzled in Kurt's case, when the video popped up. Then both of their eyes widened in horror at Mairead's face on the video. She sighed. "I'll explain."

* * *

_Friday, eleven in the morning_

"Kurt! Hurry up! Joey's calling me!" Blaine shouted from his dorm room, Kurt next door. Both of them had some down time to cool off after rehearsing the choreography about six times due to Wes' and Thad's insistence that they need all the practice they could get. Blaine suspected it was revenge for Jeff pulling a prank on Thad in the middle of the night.

Kurt ran into the room yelling "Alright, I'm coming! Don't mess up your gelled up little head, Blaine. I was just looking at the new catalogue for the latest Alexander McQueen collection." Blaine rolled his eyes.

"C'mon, let's get this started already." They both flopped down on their stomachs on Blaine's bed with the laptop between them; they were both dressed in casual clothes as school hadn't officially started up again yet. Blaine answered the call and saw his brother's face pop up and then Mairead's. Kurt and Blaine couldn't believe what they saw on Mairead's face.

She sighed, looking down at her computer screen rather than the camera that was set at the top of her computer. "I'll explain." She said a few seconds later looking exhausted through the computer.

Both the boys looked at each other in shock, their eyes wide open. "Wh-what happened, Mari?" Kurt said in a strangled voice. Blaine was too much in shock to speak coherently.

Mairead opened her mouth just as Joey cut in. "Blaine, Kurt, I need to speak with Mairead just for a minute." Joey blurted out.

"O-" Kurt was interrupted by the blackness of both video feeds. He looked over at Blaine, as he had hidden his head in his arms. Kurt got off the bed, closed and locked the door to Blaine's room, and got on the bed. Sitting close to Blaine he rubbed his back, feeling the tremors of soundless sobs wracking his body. Kurt pulled Blaine in to an upright position and let him sob into his shirt. "Hey, its okay, Blaine. It's okay. I'm right here. Nothing's ever going to hurt you again. I promise, it's okay." Kurt murmured into his hair, not caring if he got a bit of hair gel in his face.

"I- I…" Blaine tried to speak, but couldn't. He couldn't believe the state his best friend was in.

"Blaine, tell me this? Why are you crying? You don't know what happened to her. She just might have gotten into a bit of rough and tumble fight with Joey or something. Or she might have gotten a cat thrown at her." Kurt attempted at the bit of humor he tried putting in.

Blaine sniffed, knowing that Kurt was right. He didn't know what she got herself into; like the time when he, she, and Joey decided to play baseball with rocks instead of the balls and gotten a nasty bruise on Mairead's leg after the first swing.

"Feeling better?" Kurt asked softly, compassion gentling his face. Blaine nodded as Kurt kissed his temple. Blaine wiped the last few tears away from his face as he called Joey.

Blaine and Kurt smiled as Joey picked up with Mairead not far behind him with her video feed.

"Okay, let me explain! I was just in the house cleaning up after I dropped Joey off and I accidently, kinda slipped on the floor and rolled my way down the spiral staircase in my house and halfway bonked my face as I landed into the table that's at the end of the stairs. The glass vase on the table fell and broke besides me. I'm alright, really!" Mairead explained in a rush, laughing at herself.

"Really?" Kurt said flatly. He didn't believe that's what accounted for the black eye. She nodded vigorously.

"Blaine, you know the table at the bottom of the stairs. With the knobby shaped legs, right? That's how I got this." She pointed at the black eye. "I'm just a klutz sometimes, especially when _someone_ leaves random stuff on the floor." She said loudly, meaning her brother.

Something just didn't sit right in Kurt's gut about this. Blaine looked like he believed it, having been in Mairead's house countless times. "So how long will you have the black eye for? It looks pretty bad."

"It'll probably look worse later today." Joey answered. "The swelling hasn't reached the maximum height yet. It'll look worse, and feel worse, before it gets better. But it'll probably go away in the next four days or so."

Mairead chuckled. "Great, now I have this shiner to explain to everyone at school." Joey rolled his eyes, smiling aloofly.

They talked for a few more minutes before Mairead looked away and sighed. "Sorry, I have to go, talk to you later, Blaine?" Blaine nodded. Her video feed went black before disappearing.

"How's the gash on your forehead, Blaine?" Joey asked, his face focused on the screen instead of the webcam.

"It's getting better; I just wish I didn't have to wear this bandage all time when we're doing choreography practice. It gets in the way. But the stitches are healing fast. Pretty soon you won't be able to see anything." Blaine explained, about to raise his hand to touch it before Kurt subtly laid his hand over his to stop him.

Both Blaine and Kurt heard a faint yell through the computer and Joey looked wide-eyed at the door. "I gotta go. Call me later?" He didn't wait for their response as he quickly hung up on them.

Blaine sighed, looking depressed. Kurt shut the laptop and set it on the table beside him. He lay down next to Blaine who was on his side with an arm bent under him with his head resting on the crook of said bent arm. Both of the boys looked exhausted. "Hey, why don't you get some sleep? Wes said we didn't have to come down for the second run-through until five. The whole lot of them are down in the game room playing Halo." Kurt softly explained. Blaine nodded his head, closing his eyes. Kurt made a move to get off the bed to sleep in his own room until Blaine grabbed his hand.

"Please? Sleep with me?" Blaine slurred, sleepiness evident in his voice.

Kurt obliged, getting back on the bed.

Laying down on the bed next to his boyfriend, Blaine pulled Kurt in for a small kiss before falling asleep. With their forehead nearly touching, Kurt responded gently. They both fell asleep. Well, Blaine fell asleep as Kurt pondered what had just happened over Skype before shortly succumbing to his own exhaustion.

* * *

It was nearly two o'clock when Kurt woke up. Blaine was sleeping peacefully next to him, his face softening while he slept. Kurt made sure not to disturb anything as he gazed at his boyfriend. Blaine looked, for lack of a better word, soft as he slept. All the stress and cares of the world fell away as he lay there peacefully, unconscious to the world. Kurt rolled his eyes downward to their intertwined hands. He tried to carefully pry his hand away from Blaine's but Blaine stirred in his sleep and tightened the grip he had on Kurt's hand.

"Blaine? I'm going to get up, but you keep sleeping okay?" Kurt softly said in his ear.

Blaine mumbled something before loosening his grip but not quite letting go. Kurt managed getting his hand back and slowly getting of the bed without jostling it too much. Blaine curled up into a ball before heading back into a deeper sleep. Kurt chuckled and crossed to the front of the bed to kiss Blaine on the temple.

Closing the door to Blaine's room as quiet as he can, Kurt went into his room and hastily made a sign that read:

_DO NOT DISTURB BLAINE. IF YOU DO, I WILL TAKE ALL YOUR CLOTHES AND BURN THEM. –KURT_

He taped it to the front of Blaine's door satisfied that none of the boys would after disturbing him and actually hid instead of burning Jeff's beloved Linkin Park sweatshirt. After showering and dressing in non-wrinkled clothes, he headed down to where the Warblers were playing the various Xboxes in the game room.

"Hey Kurt!" He heard as he entered the room, the Warblers turning to say or nod their hellos at him. Kurt nodded back at the room before deciding to sit in a beanbag chair next to David. He quickly paid David and Wes no attention to the game they were bantering back and forth at, instead trying to piece together what happened over that odd video call.

_It couldn't have been a fall down the stairs. That black eye wouldn't be that bad. Hell, I got a black eye after Finn and Puck 'accidently' kicked that soccer ball into my face last summer. All I got was a slightly reddened eye. The nose I can understand, but that eye… it doesn't make sense. And how did she cut the back of her hand but her palm and fingers are perfectly alright?_ Kurt thought. _ It can't have been that glass vase, it would've have to have cut her hand and fingers unless the vase fell only across the back of her hand, but something just doesn't seem right. _

"Hey, where's Blaine?" Wes asked, not taking his eyes off the flat-screen TV. Kurt looked up.

"He's just sleeping. Tired from rehearsal this morning and with his forehead giving him a headache and all." Blaine and Kurt had passed off his cut on his forehead as falling on the ground and cutting deep into his skin.

"Good, 'cause we're going to run the choreography again tonight. He'll need all the rest he can get." Wes said distractedly as he was shooting some weird alien thing.

Kurt nodded and looked more interested at the TV screen. "Can you teach me how to play this?" He asked.

Both Wes and David looked over to him, dumbfounded that he would ask. They were staring at him until they realized that the alien was just about to kill them both with a circular fire attack thingy. "Um… sure. After we're done with this thing."

Kurt spent the next two and a half hours learning how to play with a growing crowd of Warblers gathering behind him. He first heard whispers and then full-out astonishment as Kurt learned quickly and started defeating foes in short time.

"What's going on?"

Everyone except Kurt turned to look at the speaker. Blaine was standing in the doorway, freshly showered and curly haired; he hadn't bothered to put gel in his hair this time.

"Um… Kurt is playing Halo. And is actually pwning everything he hits." Blaine looked incredulous as he walked towards the TV. They were right; Kurt was efficiently killing anything that came his way.

They watched for another half hour. Blaine wasn't looking at the screen, but rather at Kurt. He had never seen him more concentrated than this, Kurt was barely even blinking! There was also something incredibly sexy about him playing video games.

"Alright! Let's get back to rehearsal; we only have a week left!" Wes clapped his hands once and yelled. Everyone groaned except for, surprise, surprise, Kurt. He was still focused on the game in front of him.

"Kurt? Let's go. It's time for rehearsal." Blaine laid a hand on his shoulder.

"No! Not until I kill this damn thing!" Kurt growled. Everything was still for one full second and then every single boy, except Kurt, roared with laughter. Never did they think that Kurt would be so addicted to playing Halo!

Laughing, Blaine kissed Kurt on the cheek. Kurt paused the game and smiled mischievously at him. He got up and stretched before taking Blaine's hand and following everyone out of the game room and into the Warbler's room.

* * *

Monday came about and saw the three out of the four of them back to school. Joey to his private junior high, Mairead back to her public high school on Tuesday (Sarah insisted she stay home another day), and Blaine and Kurt back to classes at Dalton. The week seemed to fly past as Mairead Skyped Joey every night just to make sure he was doing alright. But every day, she saw more marks on him, visible and invisible. Joey had gotten more withdrawn and aggressive, not wanting to talk with her about his home life; instead focusing on her and Blaine and Kurt. Mairead also saw a bruise blossoming on the bottom of his chin and a cut on his eyebrow. She had lost sleep thinking of the pain Matthew was inflicting on Joey and possibly Miranda. It was more than once that when she was talking with Joey that she would hear Matthew screaming for Joey; he would apologetically say good-bye to Mairead before hastily signing off Skype. It was soon Friday night and she knew that she didn't want to disrupt Blaine in rehearsing for the Regionals competition two days from now, but she couldn't exactly keep it in anymore.

It was only ten o'clock at night; most of the Dalton boys would still be awake. She sat at her laptop with the door closed and locked, and booted up Skype. The person she called answered on the second ring.

* * *

Kurt was in his room trying to relax from the most intense Warbler practice they had had so far. The school had given him and the Warblers the day off tomorrow to make final preparations for the Regionals competition on Saturday. He took off his tie and unbuttoned the top few buttons from his dress shirt before waking his laptop up. As he was checking his Facebook, the little Skype icon on the toolbar near the time in the lower right corner of his screen lit up. Clicking it open, he found himself face to hypothetical face with Mairead. Her black eye was much better than when he saw her last week and she looked concerned.

"Hi, Mairead. What's up?" He smiled happily.

"I need to talk to you about something. Can you make sure that Blaine isn't going to barge in or anything?" She urgently asked him.

He nodded shortly before asking her to wait for a minute. Kurt walked next door to find Blaine in his boxers getting ready for bed. "Hey, going to sleep already?"

Blaine nodded. "I want to get some sleep now before Wes, David, and Thad kill us tomorrow in rehearsals." He said hoarsely. The council insisted on running through Raise Your Glass too many times for Blaine's voice's comfort. Blaine winced as he coughed, a faint pain rising in his throat.

Kurt looked on sympathetically. "Here, let me get you some tea from the common room. Trust me, a cup of tea with a touch of honey will help. That what I used when I needed to battle Rachel last year when the New Directions wanted her so sing Defying Gravity instead of me."

"Didn't you lose that?" Blaine croaked, wincing again.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Yes, but whatever. You get in that bed, mister; and I'll be back before you can say Quidditch." Kurt ran out of the room as Blaine chuckled painfully.

Kurt worked as fast as he could, thankful that the coffeepot full of hot water was still warm. He ripped open an Earl Grey tea packet and grabbed the honey bottle out of the refrigerator. Grabbing a spoon, he squirted a massive amount of honey and stirred in the tea while walking back to Blaine's room; not wanting to keep Mairead waiting for much longer.

Blaine was in bed, with his hands under his head. He sat up when he heard Kurt enter the room. Smiling, he took the warm cup from Kurt. "Thank you, Kurt." He said clearly after the first sip. Kurt sat beside him, Blaine scooting up closer to his side. Kurt slung an arm around Blaine's bare back and pulled his waist towards him. Blaine leaned his head against the taller boy's shoulder, sighing contentedly and tiredly. They sat there for a few minutes, just enjoying the silence. Kurt noticed Blaine's eyes drooping.

"Hey why don't you get some sleep, and I'll wake you up tomorrow in time for rehearsal, hm?" He murmured in Blaine's ear.

Blaine sighed once more, wanting this moment to last longer. "Okay, but give me a kiss before I sleep?" Blaine pulled his puppy dog eyes on him.

Kurt rolled his eyes. He kissed him, smiling. Blaine responded in glee, making the kiss last as long as possible.

Walking out the door and turning the lights off for him, he turned and saw his boyfriend settling in the bed under the covers. "I love you."

"I love you too, Kurt."

Kurt smiled as he quietly, but securely shut the door. He bolted back into his room and locked the door, thankful for Dalton's soundproof dorm rooms. "Sorry, Mairead. Blaine's voice was hurting him so I got him tea with honey. It just took a while." He smiled apologetically to the webcam.

Mairead smiled at her computer screen and waved a hand. "Don't worry about it." She answered a second later. "And, please Kurt, call me Mari. It's shorter. Trust me; I don't even let people at school call me Mari."

Kurt was honored that she accepted him so much and easily. "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

Her face grew serious. "You know firsthand what Matthew, Blaine's and Joey's father, can do, right?" Kurt nodded, his stomach suddenly uneasy.

"I've been talking with Joey every night since we've gotten home and I'm getting worried. He's been appearing on screen with marks on his face he's been passing off as bullies at school. But I know better, Joey can face those bullies down anytime and he has a great group of friends who help him. It's his home life that I'm concerned. Can you see where I'm going?"

Kurt took a moment before answering. "You think… that Matthew… is…?" Then realization dawned on him and his face contorted in horror and anger.

Mairead seeing his expression nodded sadly. "Yes, I think that Matthew is… punishing Joey daily for taking Blaine's side instead of his. I've already contacted Lauren, their sister. Lauren's one year younger than Blaine and goes to an all girls private school in California." She explained. "She's flying out here on Saturday to surprise him for the competition. So she knows what's going on right now. I'm just concerned for Joey. That's why I'm talking with you, Kurt. If I tell Blaine, he's not going to focus at all for Regionals and you might lose if he's not focused. I can trust you, right, Kurt?" She asked him hesitantly.

Kurt looked directly at his webcam instead of the screen. "Mairead, you have my complete trust that not one word that we have spoken tonight will be spoken to Blaine. I promise you that." He said seriously.

Mari sighed on screen. "Thanks, Kurt. I'm coming out with my family, Joey, and Lauren on Saturday to watch you guys. Just, keep Blaine as relaxed as possible. I'll tell him after the competition's done. I just don't know what to do right now for Joey. I want to help him, but I don't want to hurt him further. I feel so helpless." She put her head in her hands, hiding her face from the computer.

"Mari, you're not helpless and you are helping him. You're telling me and that's helping him." Kurt said, hoping his words will get through to her.

"But-"

"No but anything. You are helping him, Mari. By telling me… You are, really. Just let me talk to him and I'll see what we can do, okay?" She nodded. "Now, I would absolutely love to keep talk with you, but I need sleep for tomorrow's rehearsal. It's the last day, and Dalton's given us the day off to prepare. So tomorrow's going to be hell day for all of us Warblers." Mari laughed as Kurt said in a sarcastic tone.

"All right, I will talk to you tomorrow?" She looked seriously at the webcam.

Kurt nodded and bid Mari a good night before turning off his computer. He changed into his pajamas and fitfully fell asleep.

Tomorrow saw Kurt coming out of his room still in his pajamas and going into Blaine's still dark room. Climbing silently onto the bed, he lay down next to him and kissed him into waking him up.

Blaine had had a dreamless night and woke up when a curious sensation bothered his chest. It felt like he was choking. His eyes snapped open and he flailed his arms, hoping to scare away what was making him choke. His hand hit something warm and soft and made a noise that sounded like "Oof! Blaine! It's me!" A voice sounded out. Blaine stilled his hands and grabbed his glasses and shoved them into his face. Kurt was rubbing his shoulder.

"Kurt? It was you?" Blaine said, wide awake.

"Yes, it was me. I told you I would wake you up in time for rehearsal. You have an hour before we have to show up." Kurt said.

"Sorry for hitting you. Just, kiss me next time after you wake me up." Blaine looked apologetically.

Kurt chuckled. "Fine, I just wanted to surprise you. I'll let you get ready." Kurt kissed him before heading back into his own room.

Blaine just laid there for a few more moments before getting ready.

**Sorry, no song this chapter since next chapter will be the Regional competition so Candles/Raise Your Glass will be the next chapter.**

**So I've been getting some PM on how to say Mairead's name and I know how some of you might be thinking it might be pronounced. The right way to say her name is MAIRE (rhymes with Nair) – ade (like lemonADE). So it's MAIRE-ade and her nickname is not Mary, but Mar (like the planet but without the s) –E so Mar-E. Her last name is Stryka, which is pretty much how it looks; Stry-ka. **

**Next chapter will be a little shorter than this chapter, but the chapter after that will be huge. Next chapter will be Regionals and something bad is going to happen, majorly bad. Thank you guys from the bottom of my heart for reading and please, please review. Those reviews are what keep me writing and uploading faster. Thank you so much!**

**8-4-11 **


	14. Candles and Raise Your Glass

**Okay, about having a shorter chapter I mentioned last chapter… I totally and utterly lied. This chapter is a monster, so make sure you have about half an hour to read all of this. WARNING: violence at the end**

_Friday, seven in the evening_

Blaine was wiping the sweat out of his eyes as they finished doing the dance routine for Raise Your Glass. It was getting early in the afternoon and they had been rehearsing since nine o'clock in the morning with only a half hour break for lunch before diving back into practice. Blaine only had ten minutes for lunch as he had to talk with the Council on cutting certain lines from Raise Your Glass seeing as it didn't work as well with the choreography. He hastily swallowed his sandwich and drank his water down in two big mouthfuls before going to the meeting.

Kurt looked on concernedly after all of them returned to rehearsal. They were doing another run through of Candles, by Hey Monday, when he noticed something wrong with Blaine towards the end. Usually, Blaine would end by looking at him but this time, he seemed to be stumbling through and slurring the last few lyrics while looking blankly at the floor.

Wes stopped the singing and looked at Blaine, who was still looking at the floor, his mouth not singing but slightly opened. "Blaine! What happened that time? It was perfect all the other times!" Wes said loudly, getting slightly mad.

Blaine didn't answer. Wes started to walk out of formation and towards him. Kurt stepped in before he could get close.

"Could we have a tiny respite? I think Blaine is feeling a little tired." Kurt asked politely of Wes.

The Council president sighed gustily. "Fine, but only ten minutes! We need to get this perfect before we retire for the night!"

Kurt led Blaine over to a nearby chair away from the other Warblers and pushed on his shoulders to make him sit down. He kneeled down until his eyes met Blaine's hauntingly blank ones. "Blaine, it's me. I know you're there. Come back to me, Blaine. Come back to the present." Kurt urgently whispered. He had asked Mairead about how to handle this kind of situation if it should occur; and it was happening right now. Blaine was having a flashback, or a waking nightmare as he put it. "Come back, Blaine. Come back to me. Come on, Blaine, I know you're there."

It seemed to help, as Blaine started mumbling. "…no. Please, don't. Please!" Blaine shut his eyes and started shaking. "Please, just let me go. I didn't do anything to you, you stupid idiot." His eyes started leaking tears.

"Shh, shh, Blaine. It's me, Kurt. Come back to me." Kurt started rubbing his hand on Blaine's upper leg to soothe him and get him to come back; his other hand was rubbing his shoulder and back.

"Let me GO!" Blaine said loudly. His outburst drew the stares of some of the Warblers to where the two boys were sitting. Kurt looked over and shook his head, giving some of them a bitch stare when they wouldn't look away.

"I have to run… I have run… let me go, please. Just let me go." Blaine pleaded to an unseen enemy as he started breathing heavily as if he was actually running.

"Blaine, you need to calm down. You need to run, but calm down. Run towards me, Blaine, run to me." Kurt said more urgently than before. Looking at the clock he only had three minutes left before Wes would resume rehearsal and come over to see what's happening to Blaine. "Keep running towards me, Blaine. I'm right here; I'm not going anywhere. Come back to me."

Blaine's breathing started evening out and he opened his eyes, blinking several times to see clearly. Luckil,y he was wearing his glasses instead of the contacts due to Kurt's insistence that he looked hotter in glasses despite his own thought of looking nerdy or like a dork. "K-Kurt? W-where am I-I?" He asked, slurring a little bit. Blaine raised his hands to take off his glasses and wipe his eyes.

"You're at Dalton, with me. You're in the Warbler's rehearsal hall. Tomorrow's the Regionals competition. We're singing Candles together, remember?" Kurt reminded Blaine softly. "Here, let me get you a glass of water." He started to stand up and walk over to the table where the kitchen staff had brought up refreshments for the Warblers.

"No! I'm fine." Blaine stood up and started walking stiffly back to the crowd of Warblers who were starting to get back into formation for their performance.

Kurt sighed following Blaine and squeezing his shoulder reassuringly as he got into his own spot besides the front line of the Warblers.

They practiced for another four hours before heading back to the dorms to sleep for tomorrow. Kurt was thinking of calling Mercedes to wish her good luck tomorrow but his thought was interrupted by the items lying on his bed.

On his bed was a perfectly washed, ironed, and pressed Dalton uniform with a note on top of the blazer reading:

_Courtesy of Dalton's Housekeeping._

_Good luck tomorrow Warblers!_

Kurt walked into Blaine's room next door and saw him reading the same note from his perfect uniform. "Looks like someone's rooting for us!" Kurt waved the note at his boyfriend.

Blaine chuckled and ran a finger down the length of his blazer's lapel, feeling how soft and clean it was.

"Hey, are you sure you're okay, Blaine? I know you had a flas-"

"I'm perfectly fine. I was just a little tired and I was daydreaming, okay?" Blaine interrupted, stiffening up right away.

"But Blaine-"

"Kurt, I'm perfectly fine, okay? Just leave me alone!" Blaine snapped in anger.

Kurt shrunk back, not wanting to get into a fight and attract attention. "Fine, I'll be in my room if you need me." Kurt stiffly told him. He walked rapidly back into his room and shut the door, letting the tears freely fall from his face. To keep his mind off of what just happened, he pulled out some hangers from his closet and proceeded to carefully hang up each part of the perfect uniform carefully from his coat hanger pole.

He was just getting into bed when he heard a quiet knock at his door and Blaine's voice timidly asking, "Kurt?"

Kurt contemplated whether to answer it or not.

Opening his door, he saw Blaine in a white t-shirt and his boxers with remorse in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Kurt. I know you were just worried about me, but… I just…" Kurt held up his hand.

"It's okay, Blaine. I understand; really, I do. I just wanted to let you know that I'm there for you, no matter what." He told him softly.

Blaine's eyes watered up. Kurt hugged him and Blaine responded by hugging him back with a tight grip. "Thank you, Kurt. I love you so much, I hope you know that."

"Yes, yes I do, Blaine Anderson. And I love you so very much, too." Blaine heard the passion in his voice. Kurt leaned into Blaine's face for a kiss. It was short, but very sweet as they headed back into their respective rooms for the night, resting up for the big competition for tomorrow.

* * *

Mairead was looking anxiously at the front door and watching the clock. Lauren's flight home from California landed an hour ago at ten o'clock, and her dad went to pick her up. Lauren was Mairead's best girl friend. Not girlfriend, but a best friend who is a girl. People got that confused so many times when they hung out together because they were so close and called each other sisters.

The door opened and she flung herself towards the person stepping inside. She basically tackled the person to ground, learning to her amusement and dismay that she tackled her father to the ground when he was holding a stuffed suitcase in his hand.

"I'm right here, Mairead. And that was your dad you just wiped the front doorstep with." A voice said dryly.

Mairead looked up and quickly flung herself into the right person she was looking for. Lauren responded in excitement, finally seeing her again after six months. Mairead broke the embrace but remained in Lauren's arms, taking a good look at her. If Blaine and Joey looked almost identical, Lauren looked the exact opposite of them. Lauren was five foot eight, four inches taller than Mairead; kind of long, blond hair that fell to the middle of the top of her back; pasty white skin that clearly looked red, painful, and sunburned; glasses that were somewhat identical to hers, purple top framed glasses and frameless at the lower half of the glasses; and an excited smile. She was wearing a rumpled t-shirt and jeans with comfy running shoes.

"I'm so glad you're home!" Mairead squealed, flattening herself against her best friend again. Lauren's bright blue-grey eyes twinkled. "C'mon, let's go up to my room." She took her best friend by the hand and they both ran up to her room. Lauren was just about to close the door before she remembered that she forgot something crucial: her suitcase. Laughing embarrassingly, she ran back down the spiral staircase to the front door entrance where Jason was about to bring the suitcase up. "I'll take that… Dad." She said to him with a twinkle in her eye. He smiled and laughed as she started to lug the suitcase up the stairs.

Once the door was shut and they had both changed into their pajamas, Lauren in shorts and an old cross-country shirt and Mairead in her shorts and tank-top, they caught up with each other. They both sat on the bed with Mairead's sleeping bag on the floor for Lauren.

"How've you been, Mari? I've missed you so much! Skype isn't exactly the best way to see each other." Lauren asked and explained.

Mairead smiled. "I've been… alright. My PTSD's kinda been a nuisance with what's happened recently and all…" She looked down at her finger tips.

Lauren, always the one to notice the subtlest changes in behavior, noticed her lackluster answer. "What's going on with my brothers? Is that why you've been stressed? I can see those bags under your eyes."

Mairead explained everything to Blaine's sister, starting from the Nerf war up to when she was beaten by Matthew. Lauren listened in horror, occasionally asking a clarifying question.

"My own father… actually did all that?" She whispered, not wanting to realize it. Mairead nodded. "I'm going to press charges against that man. He had no right to beat you within an inch of your life and harm my brother." She growled.

"Actually, I was probably beaten within ten yards of my life." Mairead interrupted. The girls looked at each other for a second before bursting into laughter.

"We should get some rest; Blaine's show choir competition is at one tomorrow and it's getting late. Not to mention, you're probably tired from that plane ride." Mairead looked pointedly at the digital clock displaying that it was seventeen minutes after one o'clock in the morning in neon green numbers. "What time do you want to wake up?"

Lauren responded after a minute. "Maybe around ten o'clock?" Mairead shook her head.

"It'll take us two hours to get to the place where the Warblers are going to perform. It's like in downtown Toledo or somewhere close to there. What about seven?" She suggested as her best friend snorted.

"No way, nine forty-five."

"Eight."

"Nine thirty."

"Eight thirty."

"Fine! Eight thirty it is." Lauren said, exasperated. "Why do you always have to get up so early?"

Mairead smiled mischievously in victory. "I have my reasons. At least we don't have to get up at five in the morning. Kurt told me the Warblers have to get up to take the bus to Toledo. Imagine being stuck on a bus with all those boys." She already explained to Lauren about Blaine's boyfriend.

Lauren laughed. "That actually sounds kinda fun. Considering that three-fourths of them are going to go straight back to sleep as soon as the bus starts rolling. Imagine all the pranks you can do to sleeping high school boys."

"You should also imagine all the pain that would be coming your way when they wake up." Mairead said dryly, smiling.

Lauren rolled her eyes. "C'mon, let's go to sleep. I'll turn off the lights." She got off the bed and went to turn the lights off.

Mairead turned on the mini lamp that she turned on at night on her bed stand. Once both girls were settled in, Mairead sleepily said, "Night, sis. I love you."

"Love you too."

And just like that, both girls were unconscious in two minutes flat.

* * *

_Saturday, four o'clock in the morning_

Blaine's alarm went off at four in the morning and he groaned. _Why is it so ungodly early?_ He mumbled in his head. Wes had called the bus company and told them that they would be leaving Dalton's campus by five o'clock in order to make it to Toledo's Fitzgerald Auditorium for the competition by nine. They had to register by nine-thirty and then rehearse for an hour before heading to sit down and watching the other Regional show choir competition taking place the same day in the same auditorium before it would come to his Regionals. They had half an hour before they had to sing to warm up.

Getting off of the bed slowly, not wanting to cause a head rush, he dragged himself to the bathroom and into a warm shower. The water revived him a bit and got him to run through the songs in his head. As he was shaving, he heard a slow knock at his bathroom's door. He opened it, shaving cream still on his face. Kurt was in the door way, dressed and looking quite nervous.

"You almost ready?" He asked, his voice going up an octave or two in Blaine's opinion. Blaine saw the barely noticeable bags under his eyes. He cocked one of his triangular eyebrows.

"Did you get any sleep last night? You look… tired." Blaine tried to explain, considering Kurt was bouncing a little on the heels of his newly polished and shiny black dress shoes.

"Yeah, a little. But I'm perfectly fine. Why?" Kurt's voice went up another octave.

Blaine chuckled, not wanting to ruin the moment. "Never mind. C'mon, let's go down for breakfast." He grabbed his messenger bag with his bottle of hair gel as he walked out of his room; he left his hair un-gelled considering the long bus trip.

As they arrived down to the dining hall, the two boys noticed three large reusable bags full of something. They thought nothing of it as they entered the dining hall full of drowsy boys and a stressed out Wes, David, and Thad. Those three looked like they had no sleep whatsoever and were drinking large cups of coffee. Getting a toasted English muffin and slathering it with honey and peanut butter, he noticed Kurt not really taking anything other than a banana and a cup of coffee.

"Kurt, we're going to be on the road for four hours. A cup of coffee and a banana is not going to keep you full for that long." Blaine stated, looking at Kurt's face as he stirred in cinnamon to his own cup of coffee. Kurt concentrated on stirring milk and sugar in his cup of coffee. "Kurt, did you hear me? You need to eat something more." Blaine urged his boyfriend.

Kurt finally looked up before nodding; he was walking towards the bread table. Blaine caught a glance of something in his eyes, but couldn't figure out what it was. He finished stirring his coffee and grabbed two seats at nearby table were Jeff and another drowsy Warbler were slowly eating their plate of scrambled eggs. Jeff and the Warbler nodded their greeting, not quite finding the energy to use their voice just yet. Kurt found his way over to them, as Blaine finished his first round of breakfast items, balancing a plate of buttered toast and a small muffin with his cup of coffee. Blaine nodded and smiled his approval of Kurt's breakfast, before heading back to the breakfast buffet for a small plate of eggs and another cup of coffee.

It was getting close to four-forty five when Wes ushered the sleepy show choir out to the coach bus parked in front of Dalton's main entrance. They trooped inside the bus with Blaine calling dibs on the very back seat considering that the buses they usually rode never had bathrooms but a long back seat that spanned across the back of the bus. Blaine took Kurt's hand and sat down in the comfy back seats. He took off his bag and placed it at his feet. Kurt placed his bag on the seat beside him.

The sun was just struggling to come up as David came in last on the bus with the three large bags that Blaine and Kurt saw as they went down to breakfast. He placed the green bags in the compartment above his seat before collapsing in it.

The bus started rolling and they were on their way to Toledo. The good thing about the Warblers was that they were a reasonably small group so they didn't fill up all the seats. Some of them took off their blazers and shoes and laid down on the seats with the arm rest up, asleep in three seconds. Others had to awkwardly lean against each other and tried to catch some shut-eye. Almost all of the boys brought their iPods and had their ear buds or sound canceling headphones on or in their ears. Blaine looked out the window relaxed, hoping he wouldn't fall asleep. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Kurt falling asleep with his head drooping forward. Pulling the ear buds out of his ears and Kurt's, he asked the sleepy boy, "Kurt, you didn't sleep much, did you?"

"Um… a little, but not a lot." Kurt admitted, yawning. His eyes started to droop again.

Blaine chuckled, pulling a folded Dalton sweatshirt out of his bag, bumping his Kindle. "Here, use this as a pillow. Take off your shoes and blazer. This seat is more than enough for you lay down in. I mean you can stretch without being cramped like some of these guys." He pointed generally down the length of the bus while whispering.

Kurt smiled and kissed his boyfriend on the lips before doing what he suggested. He hung the blazer on the back of the seat in front of him and unlaced his shoes before putting his ear buds back in and laying down on the sweatshirt. Blaine was right, that back seat had more than enough room for him to lie down and stretch his long legs comfortably. Kurt was out in five seconds.

Checking to make sure he was asleep, Blaine kissed Kurt sweetly on the temple. He slowly bent down to grab his Kindle and turned it on. Choosing _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire_ out of his list of books, he relaxed and leaned into his seat.

_Nothing more than having my boyfriend by my side and reading and listening to Harry Potter could be better._ Blaine thought contentedly and smiled, as Hedwig's theme sounded in his ears.

* * *

_Saturday, eight fifteen in the morning_

Mairead woke up after the sun shined on her face through her window. She rolled over and saw her best friend sleeping on the ground in front of her. She slowly and quietly got up, not wanting to wake Lauren for another fifteen minutes. She gathered her clothes for the day, a long sleeved purple t-shirt and dark blue jeans, before opening her door as silently as possible and heading for the bathroom. Hearing her mother tinker with something down in the kitchen, she shut the door to the bathroom and locked it and turned on the shower faucet to the hottest temperature she could handle before taking off her clothes.

She was blowing drying her hair for about forty-five minutes before she heard an impatient knocking at the door. Opening the door with the blow dryer still on, she yelled at Nick "What? I'm almost done!"

"It's nine thirty! Why don't you use the blow dryer in Mom and Dad's bathroom and let me use this one to shower?" Nick hollered over the loud noise.

"No! This one dries my hair faster than theirs! Use Mom and Dad's shower if you're so eager to take a shower." She yelled back at him.

"Yes, but this one has all my shaving stuff in it along with my contact solution!"

"Use Dad's!"

"I would die using his! It's too big!"

"Just take a shower over there, and I'll be done with my hair by the time you get out!" Mairead was getting impatient.

"Fine!" She watched her brother's tall lanky form deliberately slouch off to their parents' master bedroom for their bathroom.

She finished drying her hair and spent two minutes detangling her long, thick, black, hair and wrestling it into a low ponytail before heading downstairs and finding Lauren still dressed in her pajamas eating Sarah's homemade waffles and talking to her.

"Morning, Mom! Hey you; you finally woke up." She nudged her in the ribs as she set down her plate next to her on the counter, sitting in one of the four tall stools that were behind the counter.

Lauren stuck her tongue out at her. "You were the one who suggested waking up at seven."

"Told you I was an early riser." Mairead said through a mouth full of waffles and maple syrup.

Taking a sip of her glass of milk, she heard her father's heavy steps coming down the stairs. He was in the same state as Lauren, still in his sleeping pants and a t-shirt. Kissing his wife and daughter on the temple, he grabbed a plate with two waffles and drenched it in syrup before taking a seat at the dining room table to read the newspaper.

Nick appeared in the kitchen grabbing a plate for himself before sitting beside Mairead and talking to his mom. He was dressed in skinny jeans, a white and black striped shirt with a red cardigan slung over one arm. His short brown hair was slightly damp as he voraciously ate his waffles.

Lauren finished her breakfast and ran upstairs to take a shower. Mairead was next to finish and flopped down on the couch in the living room to flip though the TV channels to find a decent Saturday morning cartoon to watch while waiting for her best friend. Lauren came down forty-five minutes later with damp hair and a bag full of stuff to do on the way to Toledo. Mairead forgot that she didn't pack a bag yet, and jumped up to pack one in her room. She only packed her Kindle, iTouch, a big plastic bag filled with Apples to Apples card, and her cell phone in her small but light messenger bag.

Once Jason was done showering and getting ready, the whole house hold trooped into the garage and into the Pilot with Mairead and Lauren taking the back seats; Nick getting the middle seats to himself; and Sarah, of course, taking the passenger seat up front. Jason slowly backed out of the driveway and closed the garage. Driving only next door and going in the driveway, Jason honked the horn for Joey to come out of his house and get in the car so he could come to see Blaine in the competition. He had no idea Lauren was in the car though. He opened the door opposite of Nick and Lauren and Mairead screamed "SURPRISE!" at the top of their lungs.

Joey hit his head on the ceiling of the car in shock and astonishment. "When did you get here?" He laughed as he awkwardly hugged his older sister over the seat. He finally sat down besides Nick and fastened his seat belt.

"Last night. Jason drove me and I just stayed at Mairead's house." She shrugged as she refastened her seat belt.

"Everyone have your seat belts on? Good, let's get this party started!" All the kids in the back groaned at the weak joke.

Joey shifted his seatbelt around and let out a small yelp of pain.

"You okay there, Joe?" Mairead asked, zeroing in on his remark.

"Yeah." He laughed. "Just a small bruise on my hip got bumped. It's nothing." Joey said. Behind him, Lauren and Mairead looked at each other, thinking about what they discussed last night.

Mairead remembered that there was a black SUV in the Anderson's driveway, she meant to ask him but totally forgot in yelling surprise to Joey. _I'll just ask him when we're waiting for Blaine to perform._ She made a mental note to herself.

When they were about half an hour into the trip, she pulled out the bag full of Apples to Apples cards and suggested they play together. Considering that they were in two separate seats, she split up the green and red cards and handed the two piles to Nick so they didn't have to reach over the seat to get the cards. They were roaring with laughter by the time Jason parked the car in nearby parking ramp near the Auditorium.

"We so have to continue this after the competition. I have a killer card I need to play." Joey said as they cleaned up. Mairead grabbed her bag filled only with her iTouch and her Kindle and slid her cell phone in her pocket, making sure she set it to vibrate only and locked the phone. Nick folded the chair to let the girls out of the back seat and they climbed out. They stumbled a bit as they came out of the car, having not been able to stretch their legs for the last two hours. They walked the short distance to the auditorium and found the seats where they could see the stage the clearest.

"You said that Blaine and the Warblers were performing at one?" Sarah asked her husband while reading the program.

"Yup. Looks like we got her a little early. Oh well, we can watch the other choirs perform until Blaine come out." Jason said, playing around with his cell phone.

It was only eleven-fifteen and the first show wasn't until twelve o'clock. Mairead and Joey were getting all fidgety in their seats, waiting.

"Hey, why don't we go outside to the lobby? Maybe Blaine and Warblers have already arrived and they're registering." Lauren suggested, anxious to see her brother.

Mairead nodded and looked at her mother. Sarah nodded. "Just keep your cell phone on you; I'll call you when they sound the five minute warning to take seats."

The three of them, Lauren, Joey, and Mairead, walked out to the chaotic lobby looking for a sign of the distinctive dark blue blazer with red piping and the Dalton insignia in the crowd.

* * *

_Saturday, an hour back, ten-fifteen_

Wes was going crazy in the bus; he looked at his watch and was panicking because they were late to registration and they were also in a traffic jam. "I told you to take other routes than the highway. I thought you knew how crowded these roads are on the weekends?" Wes angrily said to the bus driver. Luckily, unbeknownst to Wes, Thad had called ahead to the Regionals' coordinators and registered the Warblers over the phone. So once they got there, all they needed to do was find their green room and grab their "commemorative" lanyard with their passes before competing.

Blaine looked on amusingly at the front of the bus as Wes continued quietly venting his anger on the bus driver and spewing the occasional Chinese swear while Thad was calling the Regionals' officials and quietly registering all of them. Everyone was still asleep except for him, Wes, Thad, and the bus driver.

Kurt was still heavily asleep when Blaine shook his shoulder, took out the ear bud in his exposed ear, and kissed him on the temple to wake him up. "Hey, we're nearly there. Wake up, Kurt." He whispered in his ear.

Kurt slowly resurfaced back to the waking world when he heard Blaine's voice summoning him. Opening his eyes and slitting them to protect his vision from the bright sun shining through the windows, he saw Blaine Anderson, his beautiful boyfriend, leaning over and smiling at him. He sat up and kissed him. "You know, I could get used to this. Waking up to a kiss every time I fall asleep."

Blaine chuckled. "I think that can be arranged." He said as he kissed him again.

Kurt looked around and saw all the boys still fast asleep. He also saw an angry Wes arguing with the bus driver and Thad looking amused. "What happened up there? Wes looks like he swallowed a beehive. And why did you wake me when no one else is awake?" he asked Blaine, yawning one last yawn to wake himself up.

"Well," Blaine started. "Wes is arguing with the bus driver because he took the quote en quote, the 'fastest' route to the auditorium. Wes is mad because he thinks that we missed the registration and doesn't know that Thad already registered us over the phone and is not telling Wes because it's kinda amusing watching Wes argue with someone; he occasionally slips and swears at the bus driver in Chinese before reverting back to English swearing." Blaine finished with the first question while Kurt laughed softly.

"And I thought that we should run through our duet together before everyone else wakes up and we wouldn't get any work done." Blaine whispered in Kurt's ear, pulling him close to his side. Kurt nodded, Blaine made sense.

They continued to practice for the next half hour they were in the bus before Wes recruited them in waking everyone up and getting them off the bus and into the empty auditorium lobby. Wes got off the bus as soon as the grumpy bus driver opened the doors and bolted inside. Thad rolled his eyes as he saw Wes frantically explain to an amused coordinator why they were late. The Warblers marched off the bus, bags in hand; in the case of David, three large green bags in hand, and followed the coordinator to their green room. Once they entered the room, they spotted the coffee maker and bolted for it. The coordinator stood dumbfounded as the group of immaculately dressed private school boys were fighting over the coffee pot. Only Kurt and Blaine stood back from their peers.

"This is normal for us if we wake up at four in the morning to come here." Blaine reassured the female coordinator. She nodded her eyes wide.

"I'll see if I can wrangle up some more coffee makers and cups for you guys." She said. She shook her head at the scene. "Now, seeing as your group leader is in that all out brawl," referring to Wes, "I'll just talk to you instead." She handed Kurt a big pile of lanyards with passes swinging from them and handed Blaine a sheaf of papers. "You guys are performing at one o'clock so that means you guys have to be back stage by twelve fifty-five. Normally, all participants are suppose to go out in the auditorium and sit down, but considering you guys are late, you can stay back here until you perform and then sit down after. I'll go and see to those coffee makers now before they hurt each other…" She looked edgily at the pile of boys.

Blaine said thank you to the coordinator before sitting down in one of the couches and sorting through the papers on the coffee table. The coordinator came back with two more coffee makers and handed them to two boys who were waiting in the long line for the original coffee maker. They soon had the other coffee pots up and running and the smell of the bitter black concoction permeated the air in the green room.

Kurt handed Blaine a cup of coffee as he was filling out the forms. Kurt sat down on the couch beside him and sat silently.

David revealed that the green bags he brought with them contained junk food, something banned at Dalton. The kitchen staff had been saving them for a special occasion and decided that the Warblers going to Regionals was an exception. David told them that there would be a banquet in their honor on Monday at dinner, whether they bring back a trophy or not. The boys diverged on the chips like mosquitoes to human blood. Kurt and Blaine decided not to partake in the junk food; Blaine doing the paper work and Kurt not wanting to eat greasy, acne-causing fried bits of potato slices. After eating through at least six bags of potato chips, Wes had them warm up.

Finishing the forms just in time, the coordinator came back and told them it was time to go back stage. Blaine handed the forms to her and followed everyone back stage.

As they waited for the previous school to finish, Kurt became paler and even more silent if that was possible.

The previous school finished and curtain was dropped. Kurt stood rooted to one spot while the Warblers walked behind him to take their places and the school just went walked in front of him back to their green room.

Blaine was one of the last to go behind stage and saw Kurt standing right there, not moving at all. He sighed a calming breath, excited to actually be performing for other people than mall shoppers and old people in nursing homes.

"Has anyone ever died literally on stage?" Kurt asked him, wide eyed.

Blaine looks at Kurt, trying to hold back the amusement that was showing on his face. "Are you nervous?"

Kurt glanced nervously over at Blaine before returning his sight to the curtain that was hiding him and the Warblers from the audience. "Please don't judge me. This is the first time I've had a solo in front of a competition audience. I have this nightmare that I'm going to forget the lyrics and that I'm going to sing and nothing comes out."

While Kurt was rambling his fears out, Blaine walked behind him to get out of the way for the backstage crew to walk. He flexed his neck to relax him and loosen himself up before taking his position. Looking at Kurt and smiling, Kurt looks back at Blaine and gives him a nervous smile in return and then reflexively looks back at the ruby red curtains. Kurt quietly says "Okay, you can judge me now."

"I think it's adorable," Blaine explained. "I think you're adorable. And the only people who are going to be dying are the people in that audience." He points to the curtain and squeezes both of Kurt's tense shoulders to support him. "Because we are going to _kill_ this thing." Blaine gives Kurt one last loving look before taking his place on the risers. Kurt slowly takes his place on the risers and waits anxiously for the curtain to rise.

* * *

Mairead couldn't believe what she saw. _Honestly? Jesus is a friend of mine? I thought the coaches didn't know the judges before they came here. It's like that school is catering to the judges to win. That's really unfair and dirty. Honestly, two out of the three of them are freaking conservative. You have a stupid news reporter who doesn't know what a show choir is, a supposedly home-school teacher Republican, and a _stripper who turned into a nun_? What the heck were the coordinator thinking?_ Mairead stared in disbelief between the spectacle on stage and to where the judges were sitting. The Republican seemed to rocking out while the other two were tapping a foot or finger.

Finally the song ended and while everyone was clapping, Mairead, Joey, Lauren, and Nick were laughing at the foolishness that just happened to each other. The curtain finally dropped and the stage was hidden from view.

"Blaine's up next!" Lauren said excitedly. Joey was literally bouncing up and down on his seat. Mairead smiled and laughed, waiting patiently to see her best friend sing with his boy friend.

"Do you think I should record this?" Mairead asked her friends.

"Honey, they did say at the beginning of the shows that no recording was allowed." Sarah reminded her.

"But Mom," Mairead protested. "Look at all the mini-camcorders everyone else up here is holding and recording. No one's going to notice an iTouch recording it. If anyone asks, I'll just say I'm texting or something and pass this off as an iPhone, instead." It was true, they had found seats in the front row of the balcony and everyone was holding a small device that was emitting a red beam of light.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Fine." She said, not wanting to fight.

Mairead's eyes gleamed with triumph as she touched her camera app on her iTouch and turned the camera on to video camera and started recording when the announcer proclaimed in his deep voice, "From Westerville, Ohio, the Dalton Academy Warblers!" Lauren and Joey looked excitedly at the curtain going up.

* * *

As the curtain opened, the Warblers started to sing their voices out to the audience, Kurt widened his eyes, not realizing how big the audience was. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Visualizing his mother was the only one in the audience, _I love you, Mom,_ he thought and took the biggest step forward into the spot light.

_The power lines went out  
And I am all alone  
But I don't really care, at all _

_Not answering my phone_

Blaine smiled as he sang with the Warblers during Kurt's first stanza of the song. It was his turn to step in the spotlight and sing his heart out to the boy he loved. He turned to Kurt and shut the audience out of his mind, singing only to him.

_All the games you played  
The promises you made  
Couldn't finish what you started  
Only darkness still remains_

Crossing behind him, Kurt tilted his head down, smiling , and waited for Blaine to come to his other side. Blaine looked him in the eye as they both began to sing their hearts out to each other. Kurt begins to walk backwards carefully, realizing that they were no longer in the center of the stage. Blaine walks forward, following Kurt and then doesn't turn back to the audience, facing only Kurt and looking him again in the eye with such a loving expression.

_Lost sight  
Couldn't see  
When it was you and me  
Blow the candles out  
Looks like a solo tonight_

Blaine was so in awe of Kurt's voice that he actually forgot to sing the first two lines of the stanza! _Whoops,_ Blaine thought quickly before joining in the third line and then harmonizing perfectly with Kurt.

Both of the boys finally realized that there was an audience watching them and turned their bodies, voices, hearts, and souls out to the people listening to them. Blaine starts feeling the song, bouncing a little on his feet, moving his hands; closing them and the splaying them out to hopefully convey to the audience what love he had for Kurt.

_I'm beginning to see the light  
Blow the candles out  
Looks like a solo tonight  
But I think I'll be alright_

The Warblers backed off a little on their voices, allowing Kurt and Blaine to shine and sing their hearts out to each other.

_One day, _

_You will wake up  
With nothing but you're sorry's_

Blaine snuck a glance at Kurt, his body turning halfway towards Kurt, and then turns back to the audience, focusing on making sure that his voice washes over the audience.

Kurt wanted so badly to turn towards Blaine when he turned towards him, but he realized what a critical lyric it was and how it was supposed to sound to the audience, so he refrained from turning to Blaine.

_And someday,  
You will get back_

Blaine completely shuts out everyone except for the boy he wants to spend eternity with. Singing his heart out, he turns his body towards Kurt and takes a few steps forward.

_Everything you gave me _

_Blow the candles out _

_Looks like a solo tonight  
I'm beginning to see the light _

Kurt turned his head towards Blaine, who was absolutely singing his entire being out to him and only him.

Blaine closed his eyes and let his voice sing out with all the emotion, heart, and soul as humanly possible towards his boyfriend, tears stinging his eyes behind closed eyelids.

Taking a step closer to Blaine, Kurt realized that throughout this entire song, that he didn't care what place he got in this damn competition. He shut everyone out except for him and Blaine in his mind, not noticing the audience waving cheap battery powered candles at him or the Warblers glancing at each other with knowing looks.

As Blaine held out the last syllable, Kurt takes one last loving look at him and start to turn his body, but not his head towards the audience. He finally realizes that his voice was not going to carry out that well to the audience if he was still facing Blaine. Kurt reluctantly turned his voice to the large group of people waving their "candles" at him.

_Blow the candles out  
(The candles out)  
Looks like a solo tonight  
(Solo tonight) _

Blaine and Kurt turned towards the quiet audience at this point, letting their harmonized voices wash over the minds of the audience. Blaine followed every line Kurt sang with an echo of the last four syllable, accenting Kurt's beautiful voice nicely.

_But I think I'll be alright _

Kurt and Blaine look at each other and they sang their absolutely hearts out to each other. The last line ended too soon, each boy thought as they looked into each other's eyes, drinking in what they saw. Blaine had every benevolent expression in his eyes, while Kurt had the look of a proud father in his eyes. Blaine and Kurt took one last second of gazing at each other before bowing to the wildly cheering and clapping audience.

For some reason, Kurt's spotlight that had been trained on him during the entire song had shut down and Blaine was the only one in the spotlight.

_Idiots, this is not happening_. Blaine thought as he dragged Kurt into his spotlight as he stepped out of it, clapping hard.

Kurt was suddenly aware of a sudden darkness that had fallen over him as his spotlight was now shut down and only Blaine was in the spotlight. He wasn't going to do anything, Blaine really did deserve the spotlight. Until his boyfriend grabbed him by the upper arms and dragged him into the rightful place he deserved. Kurt looked like a deer in headlights, again. Making some half bows and half curtsies to the audience, he spotted Rachel and Mercedes waving their arms and screaming out his name towards him.

_Mommy, I hope I made you proud._ Kurt thought as he quickly ran back into the risers to take his position for the next song. Blaine took center stage after the clapping was finished.

* * *

Joey, Lauren, and the whole Stryka family were in awe of what they just witnessed. Blaine and Kurt just presented to the audience. They could see everything, every emotion the two boys were literally pouring out to each other through their voices. Every line was so perfect for the two boys that no other song would have fit them as well as this song.

When the song ended, Lauren, Mairead, and Joey had tears in their eyes. They looked at each other and thought the exact same thought: _Wow!_

Kurt ran back into the risers next to two other boys while the next song started. Everyone remained on their feet and started moving and grooving to the Warblers' singing. Blaine kicked it off with his voice singing solo and the Warblers in the background

_Right right, turn off the lights  
We gonna lose our minds tonight  
What's the dealio?_

_I love when it's all too much  
5 AM turn the radio up  
Where's the rock and roll? _

_Party crasher,  
panty snatcha'_

_Call me up if you are gangsta' _

_Don't be fancy  
Just get dancey  
Why so serious?_

The Warblers joined Blaine in singing and dancing to the next set of lyrics, clearly having the time of their lives on that stage.

_So raise your glass if you are wrong  
In all the right ways  
All my underdogs, we will never be, never be  
Anything but loud  
And nitty gritty dirty little freaks  
Won't you come on, and come on, and  
Raise your glass!  
Just come on and come and  
Raise Your Glass!_

The Warblers backed off on their voices for Blaine so he could sing the next set without being too overpowered by them considering he had half-talking, half-singing lines next.

_So if you're too school for cool  
And you're treated like a fool (treated like a fool)  
You could choose to let it go  
We can always, we can always  
Party on our own..._

Blaine cleverly started to walk back into formation in the middle of the stage before popping back out and singing his voice out on the first line before rejoining the rest of his boys.

_So raise your  
So raise your glass if you are wrong  
In all the right ways  
All my underdogs, we will never be, never be  
Anything but loud  
And nitty gritty dirty little freaks_

Won't you come on! and come on! and  
Raise your glass!  
Just come on and come and  
Raise your glass!

Blaine finished up the song on a triumphant note. Letting the audience know how appreciative the Warbers, and him, enjoyed singing for them.

_...for me!_

The Warblers bowed simultaneously, before breaking formation and hugging Blaine and Kurt on center stage.

Mairead, Lauren, Joey, and Nick screamed until their voices grew hoarse. They had never seen the Warblers this animated and look so fun before!

Blaine hugged Kurt the longest as the other Warblers squeezed their shoulders in congratulations and Kurt blew kisses out to Rachel and Mercedes, who he could hear cheering from the stage.

Blaine also saw Mairead and family, Joey, and to his delightful surprise, his sister Lauren! They were all jumping up and down and screaming for him. Blaine pointed to them and laughed.

Watching the Warblers go off stage and curtain come down, Mairead, Joey, Lauren, and Nick couldn't stop laughing joyfully and telling each other the most awesome parts of the Warblers' performance.

"Dude, did you see that? How they were all-"

"I can't believe how awesome that was, I mean-"

"I know! And how they looked at each other during that part of the song-"

"That part when they all jumped up at the same time-"

They couldn't talk to each other unless the other was talking so it was a jumbled mess of words and shrieks from the girls and deep laughing from the boys. They looked down in time to see the Warblers coming into the auditorium and sit in the seats designated for them. All four of them screamed loudly and cheered for them again, not caring about the people around them staring at them.

Kurt and Blaine looked up, waved and smiled before sitting down. Then the four of them sat down just the announcer proclaimed, "From Lima, Ohio, the New Directions!"

* * *

The Warblers were just getting back to their green room to grab a cup of coffee and then were told to go out and sit in the audience in the seats reserved for them. Walking out the door, Kurt and Blaine hung back in the green room for two minutes, kissing each other passionately before running out and joining their fellow Warblers into walking into the auditorium. Walking in the narrow walkway between the rows of seats, the two boys heard yelling and screaming come from above them. They both looked up and laughed, it was the Stryka family and Joey and Lauren. Both of them waved as they sat down.

"Blaine, who is that blond haired girl sitting next to Mari?" Kurt asked Blaine as he sipped his cup of coffee.

Blaine swallowed his sip as he answered, "That's my younger sister, Lauren. She goes to an all-girls school in California. I'm really surprised that she came out. I thought that she had school but apparently not by the fact that she's here right now. She and Mari are the best of friends; and they are so alike, it's scary. They both play viola, absolutely love video games, love smearing Nutella over cake, and a lot of other similarities."

"Hmm," Kurt hummed thoughtfully. "You have to introduce me to Lauren after the award ceremony."

Blaine nodded and kissed him on the cheek just as the announcer boomed, "From Lima, Ohio, the New Directions!" The two boys along with the rest of the Warblers set down their cups of coffee by their feet, not wanting to be distracting to the performers on stage.

Rachel came out in a light turquoise dress with a black sash and beading along the neckline, wearing black leggings, and oddly enough, black combat-ish boots. _Who the hell put their costume together?_ Kurt thought, cocking and eyebrow silently.

Rachel looked to her left before gripping the bejeweled microphone and microphone stand and started to sing.

_What have I done  
I wish I could run away from this ship going under  
Just trying to help  
Hurt everyone else  
Now I feel the weight of the world is, on my shoulders_

_What can you do when your good isn't good enough  
And all that you touch tumbles down _

_'Cause my best intentions  
Keep making a mess of things _

_I just wanna fix it somehow  
But how many times will it take?  
Oh how many times will it take for me  
To get it right  
To get it right_

Kurt didn't recognize the song until it dawned on him that they were doing original songs! He turned to Blaine and quietly whispered, "Oh my God, they're doing original songs!" before turning his head back to the stage. Kurt could hear the emotion in Rachel's voice coming out in the song.

_Can I start again  
With my faith shaken_

Brittany and Tina came out from the side of the stage and took center stage on the first tier of the risers; giving Rachel's a voice a chance to shine more fully than it was.

_Cause I can't go back and undo this_

Brittany and Tina backed off, letting Rachel go solo on the next two lines of the song.

_I just have to stay  
And face my mistakes _

Tina and Brittany rejoined Rachel and softly sung out to the audience how much pain they were always in from being in Glee club at McKinley and being slushied everyday.

_But if I get stronger and wiser _

_I'll get through this _

_What can you do when your good isn't good enough _

_And all that you touch tumbles down _

_But how many times will it take?  
Oh how many times will it take for me  
To get it right_

Both of the girls in the background backed off again, letting Rachel go solo.

_So I throw up my fist  
Throw a punch in the air  
And accept the truth  
That sometimes life isn't fair_

This time only Tina accompanied Rachel.

_I'll send out a wish yeah _

_I'll send up a prayer_

Tina fell silent as Rachel victoriously belted out the last note of the next set of lyrics.

_And finally someone will see  
How much I care!_

Blaine, Kurt, the Warblers, and the rest of the audience stood up and cheered for Rachel's long note as the rest of New Directions come onto the stage and take their positions on the risers behind Rachel.

Rachel ended her long winded note and let the other girls sing as she caught her breath.

_What can you do when your good isn't good enough _

Finally having caught her breath, she continued onto the last stanza of the song.

_And all that you touch tumbles down  
Oh, Cause my best intentions  
Keep making a mess of things  
I just wanna fix it somehow  
But how many times will it take?  
Oh how many times will it take_

_To get it right _

_To get it right_

Everyone in the audience stood up and applauded the New Directions for a stunning performance, not remembering they registered a second song listed in the program.

Rachel smiled and looked around the large audience and spotting Kurt and Blaine before announcing, "Ladies and gentlemen, we are the New Directions!" A sound tech quickly walked out from the side of the stage and handed her a microphone that attached to her ear and cheek before taking the bejeweled microphone and microphone stand and quickly walked backstage.

Rachel was attaching the microphone as she was running into the risers to her place in the formation. The audience sat back down in their seats as Kurt was leaning forward in his seat, excited for the next song his old school was going to sing.

The song started off with everyone stomping their heels on the risers causing a cool contrast to the instrumentalist playing.

Rachel turned around and sang with a smile on her face.

_Yeah, you may think that I'm a zero,  
Huh.  
But hey, everyone you wanna be  
Probably started off like me.  
You may say that I'm a freak show, _

Kurt noticed Santana looking a little excited as she quickly half-sang the next line that fit her psyche so perfectly.

_I don't care. _

The singing shifted back to Rachel's voice as she joyfully sang.

_But, hey, give it just a little time  
I bet you gonna change your mind.  
All of the dirt you've been throwing my way,  
It ain't so hard to take.  
That's right  
'Cause I know one day you'll be screaming my name,_

_And I'll just look away.  
That's right. _

Kurt's foot moved under his seat and bumped something soft. He reached under and pulled out several foam fingers that had the index finger up and thumb pointed out, making an "L" sign. He smiled and started tossing them to the Warbler, and handing one to Blaine, putting his own on.

Kurt stood up and screamed "WHAOOOOO!" High pitched in support of New Directions efficiently killing this song, in a good way. Blaine smiled up at Kurt as he continued watching the girl he had kissed drunkenly sing with the rest of her choir.

_Just go ahead and hate on me run your mouth  
So everyone can hear.  
Hit me with the worst you've got, and knock me down.  
Baby, I don't care.  
Keep it up, and, soon enough, you'll figure out  
You wanna be,  
You wanna be  
A loser like me,  
A loser like me. _

Rachel ran into one side of the stage while Finn took center stage.

_Push me up against the locker,  
And, hey, all I do is shake it off.  
I'll get you back when I'm your boss.  
I'm not thinking about you haters,  
'Cause, hey, I could be a superstar.  
I'll see you when you wash my car. _

Everyone in the audience was up on their feet at this point, dancing to the beat of the song. Blaine was grooving with Jeff next to him, moving his shoulders and slightly bouncing while Kurt was jumping up and down, going berserk for his friends.

Finn let Rachel take center stage as he moved to the side.

_All of the dirt you've been throwing my way,  
It ain't so hard to take_.

Finn and Rachel sang the next line together before Finn backed off and let her take the rest her solo lines.

_That's right. _

Rachel started enjoying herself more as she moved and danced to the lyrics she was singing.

_'Cause I know one day you'll be screaming my name.  
And I'll just look away. _

Finn joined Rachel once more.

_That's right. _

Rachel sang with New Directions:

_Just go ahead, and hate on me; run your mouth _

Rachel, and Finn joined in with New Directions:

_So everyone can hear. _

Rachel only with New Directions:

_Hit me with the worst you've got, and knock me down. _

Rachel, and Finn once again, with New Directions:

_Baby, I don't care._

Rachel's solo with New Directions:

_Keep it up, and, soon enough, you'll figure out  
You wanna be,  
You wanna be  
A loser like me_

Rachel belted out a note while the rest of the group sang over her.

_Just go ahead and hate on; me run your mouth. _

Rachel with Finn:

_So everyone can hear.  
Hit me with the worst you've got, and knock me down _

_Baby, I don't care _

Rachel only with New Directions:

_Keep it up, and, soon enough, you'll figure out  
You wanna be,  
You wanna be  
A loser like me. _

Kurt sees Mike run off stage for a second and then reappears with a cart with two clear containers on top filled with a red and green icy liquid. His eyes widened as he looked at Blaine and Blaine looked back at him with his eyes wide open also.

"Are they going to slushy the audience?" Kurt yelled to Blaine to he could hear. Some of the girls on stage were pretending to drink out of their cups as they took them off of the cart.

All of them walked, well, wheeled in Artie's case, to the edge of the stage. Rachel took center stage once more.

_A loser like me,_

Rachel with New Directions:

_A loser like me!_

And they thrust they're cups out into the front row of the audience, covering them in confetti, not slushies. Soon the whole audience was covered in confetti as it started falling from the ceiling.

Blaine and Kurt laughed as the New Directions joyfully ran off the stage. "That was pretty awesome, if I do say so myself." Blaine laughed to Kurt as he was trying to get the confetti out of his gelled hair.

"Let me help." Kurt finished getting all the little pieces of paper out of his hair just as a coordinator yelled for them to come back to their green room as the judges went into their deliberation room to decide the winners.

* * *

It was nearly two thirty when Lauren, Joey, and the Stryka family sat back down in their seats after a short lunch break. They were waiting for the curtain lift up and for the judges to come out and announce the winner.

The curtain finally lifted and they saw all three groups of participants standing on the risers with a table on the side of the stage holding three trophies of varying sizes and colors.

"And now to announce our winners," the announcer boomed over the sound system, "our lieutenant governor's wife, Carla Turlington-Stevens."

The audience clapped politely and anxiously as a short pudgy woman with short curly blond hair wearing a low cut shiny blue blouse with a black pencil skirt and black high heels walked out on stage looking a little… drunk.

She held the microphone up to her mouth and said, "My husband is verbally abusive and I have been drinking since noon." Silence reigned in the auditorium as they wait for the results. "I'm bored, let's just see who won, huh?"

Opening the envelope, Kurt looked at Blaine, who looked down at his shoes and took a deep breath, nervously and anxiously; while Rachel looked towards Blaine and Kurt the same way Kurt looked.

Pulling out the little piece of paper from the envelope, Carla Turlington-Stevens read it for a moment before announcing "The New Directions! You're going to Nationals in New York!"

The New Directions erupted into celebratory cheers as the biggest trophy on the table was handed to Mr. Shuester.

The other two groups clapped politely. Kurt looked at Blaine sadly and raised his hands saying _oh well, we tried._

Carla Turlington-Stevens had walked over to the side of the stage near Blaine after handing the trophy to the New Directions.

Suddenly, a tall blond mean-looking woman in a red matching track suit walked over and clocked Carla Turlington-Stevens under the chin, effectively knocking her out.

Blaine's and Kurt's jaws dropped along with the rest of the Warblers and New Directions.

Before heading back into their green room with the third-place trophy in hand, Rachel and Mercedes found Kurt and Blaine and given each of them a quick hug before heading back into their green room.

* * *

"At least they were awesome. Too bad they won third, though." Joey said, as they all walked out through the doors outside.

"Hey, I need to go to the bathroom before we go home. Anybody else need to?" Mairead asked when she handed her bag with her iTouch and Kindle to her mother. Joey nodded.

"We'll be out in the car." Jason said as Sarah, Nick, and Lauren followed him to the parking ramp.

They were just coming out of the bathroom when a man in a suit ran up to the pair of them. "Excuse me, I'm from a news station from southern Ohio and I was wondering if I could have your reactions on today's show choir competition?" The man asked them, clearly and quite nervously.

Joey and Mairead looked at each other before following the man outside. The man opened the door to a black SUV and suddenly a man dressed in all black, including a black ski mask, jumped out at them.

Mairead shoved Joey behind him as she fought the man who was trying to drag her into the SUV when she felt something sharp pierce the skin on her neck. She started to slow down her punches, her muscles getting heavy and her tongue growing numb.

"Jobey!" she yelled through her numb tongue. " Runb, runb, Jobey!" and then she knew know more as darkness overtook her eyes.

* * *

The man dragged her into the car and as soon she was in the car, he jumped out and ran to the fleeing boy. Tackling him, he took a needle out of his pocket and injected the same drug he had injected the girl with. Once the boy was still, he picked him up and slung him over his shoulder while walking quickly to the car.

He slung the boy carelessly into the car and got in himself, closing the door behind him. Taking out the rope and duct tape, he quickly slapped a piece of tape onto each of their mouths and tied their hands and feet together. He then opened the door, slammed it shut, and locked it before heading back inside the theater where he needed his true targets to come with him.

* * *

Just as they were about to board the bus back to Dalton, Blaine forgot that his bag was still in the green room. "Hey, Wes. I'm just going to get my bag from the green room. I'll be back in a sec." Blaine told him as he walked back into the building.

"I'll come with; chances are that someone else forgot their stuff in the room , too." Kurt added.

Wes nodded as he boarded the bus.

Walking quickly to the green room, the two boys quickly located Blaine's messenger bag lying on the couch and another bag on the counter. As they walked out the door, they encountered a man in a suit asking where the exit was. Blaine was explaining the way out when he felt something poke through his blazer and dress shirt to the back of his shoulder and felt something cold run through his bloodstream. His arms started getting heavier along with this tongue.

"Kurpt!" He tried to say. "Run! Rumn!" And then he fell forward, unconscious into the suited man's arms.

Kurt stood there frozen before running. Someone tackled him down just feet away from the door that opened to the street and stabbed a needle into his shoulder as well. Kurt tried to fight off his attacker but couldn't when he finally fell unconscious and oblivious to the world.

* * *

"You got him?" the man grunted to his crony. The man dressed in the suit nodded nervously as the man dressed in black pulled out a gun. "Good, now walk to the car and don't say anything. I don't care if I have to shoot you if you yell." The man shifted the unconscious boy on his shoulder and kept the barrel of the gun to the suit man's back. They both walked quickly to SUV and slung the boys into the car.

"You've been a good man. Here's your reward." He handed the man a stack of hundred dollar bills. "Now get out of here before I change my mind." He pushed the man out of the entrance of the car door before slamming it in his face.

Retrieving the rope and tape he had use earlier on the boy and the girl, he proceeded to do the same to the two new boys. He tossed the extra material into the back seat, not caring where it landed. Climbing into the driver's seat, he revved up the engine and speeded out of there without people noticing that the car had no license plates.

_Perfect. Now just to get to my special little spot._ The man thought and smiled maliciously as he drove out of there

**Wow. This is the, and I mean, the **_**biggest **_**chapter I've ever written in my life. Sorry to leave you on a cliffy, but this is where the story reaches one of its climaxes. I promise next chapter will be shorter than this one (and I mean less than twenty-six word document pages). I started this chapter last night at seven, didn't sleep until two, woke up at ten and finished this by one-thirty. So I've had a brain eruption when it came to this chapter. :P The next chapter will probably come in the next two days or so. **

**Thank you guys so much reading, and please review! Reviews are what make the world go round. ;) Thanks!**

**8-5-11**


	15. Chapter 15

**WARNING: MAJOR VIOLENCE AND PROFANITY IN THIS CHAPTER WITH GORY SCENES AT END. READ AT OWN RISK.**

Mairead slowly cracked open her eyes. She had an itch on her face and lifted a hand to scratch it, but her hand only went a few inches before it stopped. Her eyes snapped open to a blurry world. She was lying on a dark, dirty, cement floor with her hand in what looked like a silver handcuff attached to a pipe. Her other hand was in the same position attached to a pipe leading up to the ceiling rather than one running horizontally to the ground. She couldn't lay down on her back or try to stand up; she was attached to a corner of the room. Her feet were left free and she moved them cautiously, hoping not to cause any more pain than she was already in. Moving her muscles in her shoulders to try and get herself out of the slumped position she was in, Mairead looked around blearily to see if anyone else was awake. On her right she could see a head of black hair and dressed in a dark blue blazer.

Blaine was slumped over, his hands attached to handcuffs that were attached to the horizontal pipe inches away from his head. His hair mussed, but still had hair gel in it. He was lying on his back and his body shaking, probably from the cold temperature and chilly air. Mairead tried to rattle her cuffs around to wake him up, but someone else responded.

"Ugh, is anyone there?" a tired male voice responded.

"Kurt? It's Mari. Where are you?" She asked softly, in case someone came when they heard her talking.

"I'm right here, can't you see me?" Kurt responded softly as well, not yet opening his eyes. He was so sleepy.

Mairead sighed. "No, I can't see anything but that dim light above what looks like a door. Whoever kidnapped and drugged us took off my glasses."

Kurt tried to sit up when he heard her say _kidnapped and drugged_ because it all came rushing back to him. "Oh my God. They got you too?"

Mairead nodded in the general direction of his voice. "Yeah, they got me and Joey when we were coming out of the bathrooms."

"I am seriously going to kill whoever did this to us. I assume you know as much as I do at this point… We have no idea where we are, who did this to us, why they did it and what time it is?" Kurt said flatly.

"That's it in a nutshell." Mairead voiced her agreement. They both fell silent, still trying to fight off the drug that was making them drowsy. Pretty soon, they both heard the door open and heavy steps walk towards the center of the room.

"So," the man's voice said. "Only two of you are awake, huh?" He scoffed. Silence reigned for about two seconds before Mairead and Kurt shouted at the man.

"Who the hell do you think you are? Kidnapping us and drugging us?"

"You think you're such a big man for doing this? I think the cops will disagree when the find out where we are!"

"What have we ever done to you, you bastard? Who the hell are you?"

"The cops are going to come and you'll be sent to prison for the rest of your low, cowardly, despicable life you son of a bitch!"

"SILENT!" The man roared, effectively putting an end to Kurt and Mairead's angry remarks.

Blood rushed through Mairead and Kurt's bodies. Adrenaline rushed through their heads, giving them strength. "What if I don't? What are you going to do to me?" Mairead threatened.

"This." The captor went to the doorway and retrieved something long, thin, and orange at the end. It was an iron poker with the end flattened into a circle and heated up red hot. He pushed it on her left arm and left it there for ten seconds.

Kurt wished he had never opened his mouth. Mari's scream was so high and agonizing that he wished that it was him that he did it to instead of her. "Stop! Do-Do it to me instead! She didn't do anything!" Kurt yelled, frighten.

After what felt like an eternity of pain to Mairead, she opened her mouth and whispered, "No! Kurt, I'm fine!"

"Well, well. Looks like there's a gentleman in the house. Not wanting her to get what she deserves, eh? Fine, you asked for it!" He turned around quickly and set the still red-hot poker on Kurt's right leg pant.

"No!" Mairead cried out, halfway in pain and halfway in denying his choice. A thought came to here in the split second that her brain managed to work right again. _Where have I heard this voice before?_

Kurt gritted his teeth in pain, but denying the man the joy of hearing him cry out. He would stay silent, he didn't want to cause anyone pain.

The man cackled at his silence. "Looks like you're tough enough to take the pain, unlike this little shit. Or even this guy." He kicked Blaine in the leg. "I'll be back later. But first, a little something to help you go sleepy." He said maliciously. He threw the poker out the door and drew something out of his pocket.

Mairead squinted and saw a thick transparent tube with something sticking out of one end. She quickly realized it was a needle and started kicking him away every time he came close. Growing tired quickly, she realized it was fruitless to try and fight him, but she continued until sweat beaded on her forehead and he had finally pinned down her flailing legs.

"I expected nothing less from you, you little bitch." He stabbed the needle into her arm and almost immediately she fell unconscious.

"If you think I'm going to let you go the easy way out, think again, Kurt." Kurt's breath hitched. _How the hell does this bastard know my name?_ "Yes, I know your name. Someone in this room mentioned it to me a little over a week ago. And now you'll pay dearly." He then proceeded to beat Kurt over the head with a blunt object until blood dripped into his eyes and he saw star in his eyes. The pain was almost getting too much to handle and he was about plea for him to stop but right then, the captor did stop. He walked out the door and slammed it. Kurt thought he heard a click, but he wasn't sure as he was so dizzy that he fell unconscious.

* * *

Blaine woke up slowly, something warm shining on his face. Thinking it was the sunlight, he tried to roll over but opened his eyes when a searing pain went through his wrists. The sun was shining through a dirty window high above him. He tried to sit up, but could only managed to scoot his body backwards and lean uncomfortably into the wall, as both this hands were handcuffed to either side of him to a big and heavy looking metal pipe. "Hello?" He softly called out.

"Blaine?" A soft voice answered him.

"Joey!" Blaine's voice flooded with relief. "What's going on? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, I think. I'm not in any pain or anything. What about you?" He replied back to his brother. Joey's hands were handcuffed together and then another handcuff circled the chain connecting his hand handcuffs and connected that to the pipe beside him.

"Where are we? What time is it?" Joey asked quietly.

"I don't know. But I do know the sun is up." Blaine looked up at the window.

Joey drew in a sharp breath. "Blaine, look at Kurt and Mairead." He breathed out.

Blaine did as he asked and looked at Kurt in absolute horror. His face was covered in dried, some places still wet, blood; his leg looked like it was burnt by something circular and he was unconscious; he was handcuffed just like Blaine. Kurt was slumped down on the wall, his head resting on the dirty pipe. "Kurt! Kurt, it's me! Blaine! Wake up, please wake up! For me, Kurt, for me!" Blaine cried out brokenly.

"Mmph, Blaine?" Mairead had woken to Blaine's voice crying out.

"Mari? Is that you?" Blaine turned his head to the sound of her voice. He reached out to try and touch her, but the handcuff prevented that. He pulled angrily against it, making a loud clanging noise.

Kurt seemed to slowly come to after Blaine made the noise. Joey looked over and saw Kurt trying to open his eyes. "Blaine, Kurt's waking up!"

"Kurt, I'm right here. Please wake up, I'm right here!" Blaine shouted to his boyfriend.

The door opened and the man reappeared at the doorway, wearing the black ski mask, and held a knife in his hand.

* * *

Nick and Lauren were clutching each other in Nick's room. They had never been so scared in their life until now. Blaine, Kurt, Mairead, and Joey were kidnapped. Jason and Sarah were in a similar position in their master bedroom with Sarah crying brokenly. Never did anyone who was in the Stryka house think that this would ever happen to them.

Lauren was calm for the moment, but was still hugging Nick as he cried into her shoulder while sitting on his bed.

The police had interviewed all four of them as well as all the Warblers after Jason and Sarah alerted the police after they couldn't find either Joey or Mairead. Wes also alerted the Dalton's school and now the school was on lockdown, not letting anybody in or out of the school or dorm buildings until Kurt and Blaine had been found.

The interview process was terrifying. Investigators had them go into separate rooms and questioned them so intensely that Sarah and Nick broke down. They finally ruled them, and all the Warblers, innocent when they viewed the security tapes around and in the Fitzgerald Auditorium. Jason and Sarah were allowed to watch the tapes, but they didn't want Lauren and Nick to see them. Lauren fought against the decision, saying that she was the brothers' sister and she deserved a right to know how they were abducted. Sarah finally relented; the three of them were led into a room while Nick waited outside. Inside, the police officer and detective sat them down and pressed a button on the VCR. The TV screen showed Mairead and Joey walking outside a building following a man in a suit to a black SUV where another man dressed in black jumped out of the car. Mairead proceeded to throw Joey behind her and started to fight the man. As she fought him, he discreetly snuck a hand to his back pocket and pulled out a syringe and needle and stabbed it into the back of her neck and pushed the plunger. Mairead was screaming something towards Joey, but the three of them couldn't hear anything since it was a video only surveillance camera.

Mairead's punches were slowing down until she slumped into the man's arms, to Sarah's, Jason's, and Lauren's horror. It showed the man carelessly throwing her in the SUV and slamming the door and then running full speed to chase and tackle Joey to the ground. The police officer fast forwarded a few minutes and they saw the same man tossing Joey into the car before climbing in himself. Once again, the police fast forwarded the tape and as they watched, the man got out of the car and held something to the man in the suit's back as they walked back to the auditorium. Fast forwarding even farther, what the three of them saw horrified them beyond belief. The man in the suit had Blaine slung over his shoulder and Kurt slung over the black-dressed man's shoulder. They both threw the boys carelessly in the car before the man took out of his pocket a stack of bills bound tightly with rubber bands. The man ran away after. The abductor headed back into the SUV and, after a few seconds of fast forwarding, revved up the engine and screeched out of the parking spot.

The police officer ejected the tape and put in another one from a different camera. This one showing that the back of the car had no license plates and was speeding through several red lights. The screen was suddenly blank as the detective shut off the TV and told them that Amber Alerts had been posted all around the state for the four teenagers and that they were going to do the best they could to find that SUV and the four teenagers.

They had been escorted home by two squad cars, insisting that it was for their protection, but instead made them feel like guilty suspects. When they arrived home, they found a slew of reporters camped out on the front yards of the Anderson's and Stryka's houses. The police cleared a pathway into their garage and Jason immediately closed the door as soon as the Pilot was safely inside.

"I can't believe this is happening. I never thought this would." Nick sobbed into Lauren's shoulder. "I'm the one who's supposed to be harassed and beaten up and kidnapped and-"

"No, you're not, Nick." Lauren interrupted, her voice firm; she didn't want to give any indication to Mari's brother that she was as scared and miserable as he was.

"But I'm the one who's gay. I'm the one who's supposed to get all the bad stuff not Mair-" Nick was once again interrupted by Lauren.

"Nick, just because you're gay doesn't mean it will happen to you. This shit can happen to anyone. Not just you; you need to realize that, Nick. It. Can. Happen. To. _Anyone._" Lauren enunciated. "Look, I'm in as much pain as you are. Both my brothers have been kidnapped. And I feel fucking scared that I won't see t-them again." Her voice quivering at the end. Tears rolled down her cheeks. Lauren finally let the tears fall, feeling as helpless as everyone in the house she was staying in.

* * *

All four teenagers looked warily at the knife in the man with ski mask's hand. They all held their breath as they wait to see what the man would do.

"What are you doing?" Mairead yelled, breaking the silence.

The man said nothing; instead, going over to Kurt, cutting open the buttons on his white dress shirt and baring his chest. Flashing the knife at Blaine, he carved letters in the air. Blaine froze, knowing exactly what he was going to do.

"You sick bastard. I'll kill you!" Blaine shouted as he struggled against his bound hands, rubbing the skin on the cold metal.

Kurt looked up at the man with glassy eyes. "Please, I didn't do anything to you. Please!" Kurt said as loudly as he could through the pain in his head.

The man leaned down and whispered in his ear, "Sorry, Kurt. But Blaine there needs be taught a lesson. Along with Mairead and Joey, who are watching us right now." He started to carve letters into Kurt's right pectoral muscle, starting with the letter F.

"No! I'll kill you! I swear I'll kill you!" Blaine half yelled and half sobbed at the man.

Kurt first gritted his teeth, but then started scream in pain. The knife cut so deeply into his chest, he thought his heart might beat out of it. Hanging on to consciousness, Kurt thought of all the good times he had with Blaine and his group of friends at McKinley. Soon the pain and the pressure were too much for him and he slumped back down into the blackness.

Blaine looked at his beautiful boyfriend's chest after the man was done and he stood up. Carved into Kurt's chest nearly caused Blaine to faint; in bloody capital letters was the word FAGGOT and it was bleeding profusely down his chest and into the waistband of his pants.

The man looked expressionlessly through his ski mask at Blaine, who was throwing murderous glances at. He slapped him across the face, hard.

Blaine saw stars as his head hit the wall behind him. His cheek stung as he watched the man cross over to Joey and in one quick movement, stabbed him in his right calf muscle in his lower leg.

Joey screamed in agony as the man slowly removed the knife.

"Remember, Joseph. I can do much worse than this. You know that." He whispered dangerously into Joey's ear. Finally pulling the rest of the five inch knife out of his leg, the man stood up and looked at Mairead, who angrily stared back but did nothing. The man walked away and exited through the same door he had entered fifteen minutes prior. Blaine and Mairead heard the faint clicking noise, indicating that the door was being locked.

Joey started convulsing on the ground from the pain in his leg. He cried out in agony as Blaine tried to so his best to reassure him from where he was. "Joey, it's okay. You'll be okay as soon as I can get out of these goddamn handcuffs, I promise! Joey, when have I ever broken a promise to you?" Blaine started his painful battle against the handcuffs again, pulling at the metal.

"When you got your license to drive and forgot to take me to an orthodontist appointment the next day!" Joey screamed in agony at his brother.

"Slick," Mairead snorted. "Good job, Blaine, forgetting your brother's ortho appointment." She, like Blaine, was rubbing her wrists raw against the hard metal of the hand cuffs. "Joey, what other promises did Blaine break?" She was desperate to keep Joey's mind off the pain and to keep him conscious.

"There was that one time when we younger that you accidentally knocked over my ice cream cone at Disney World and promised to buy me another one but you never did!" Joey once again screamed.

"I did not knock over your cone! It was Lauren, not me! You walked into Dad who accidently bounced you into Lauren who turned around and her hand went flying into your cone!" Blaine explained, still struggling against the hand cuffs.

Mairead rolled her eyes at the brothers' banter. "What flavor was the ice cream?" She asked distractledly.

"It was a yummy coconut flavored ice cream that they never sell up here!" Joey answered her, but through gritted teeth and hissing this time.

"Tell you what, as soon as we get out of this mess, I'll get you some coconut ice cream, Joey. I can tell you where to get some. I have a whole bunch hoarded up at my house." Mairead told him, nearly getting her hand through one of the hand cuffs using her own blood from the circular gash on her wrist to make her hand slicker. "Does that sound okay to you, Joey?"

"Sure!" He gasped out as another wave of pain overtook his body.

Blaine and Mairead continued working through the pain and kept trying to get out of the handcuffs.

* * *

_Monday, one o'clock in the afternoon_

Rachel, of course, was the first one in the choir room where Mr. Shuester had his head in hands. She took her seat, thinking that he was tired or something. The rest of New Directions filed in, expressing happy remarks towards each other as all of them were still high off of their win at Regionals.

Sam was the first one to ask what Mr. Shuester thought of their performance. "It was great guys, really." Mr. Shue smiling nervously at his show choir. "There's something I need to tell you guys, and I need each of you to promise me you won't spread this around this high school."

A grim mood suddenly fell over the room. Finn looked up from his feet where he had been staring at the whole time since he came into the room. "Mr. Shue," he asked so softly that Mr. Shue almost missed it, "can I be the one to tell them?"

"Finn, you don't have to if you don't want to."

"… No, he's my brother and I have to. It's my responsibility." Finn replied, tears in his eyes.

"Wow, Mr. I-cheat-on-everyone finally stringed together a smart sentence that actually made sense this time." Santana remarked nastily.

Finn looked at her coldly as he walked in front of the small group of friends. "It's not about me, Santana. It's.. it's Kurt." He stuttered.

A cold chill seemed to go through everyone's body except for Mr. Shuester and Finn.

"What, what about Kurt?" Tina asked timidly.

"After the competition on Saturday, he, Blaine, and two other people were kidnapped!" Finn sobbed, sinking down to his knees.

Rachel started to stand up, but Quinn beat her to it; going over and sitting down next to him, rubbing his back.

Everyone froze, until Puck laughed.

"This is a joke, right? Kurt's tough, he can handle…" The look on Mr. Shuester's face stopped him from going any further.

Mr. Shuester sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "No, Puck, I'm afraid that this is absolutely not a joke. Kurt, Blaine, and two other people, like Finn said, were indeed kidnapped right outside the auditorium. Now, I don't want any of you to blame yourselves for what happened." He looked down at Finn before kneeling to his level. "Especially you, Finn. You couldn't do anything about this. No one could." He looked around to his class silently crying and leaning on each other for support. Even Santana had her knees up and crying into them.

"I've cleared it with Figgins that when Kurt is found, you'll be automatically excused from your classes to go straight to the hospital. When he is found, I'll send out a text message to everyone and I'll meet you at the hospital." Mr. Shue explained calmly, tears rolling down his face.

"Does this mean that Kurt and Blaine Warbler are going to be angels and have wings when we see them?" Brittany asked innocently.

This remarked caused Mercedes to run out of the room, crying loudly, and disappearing into the bathroom right next door.

Mr. Shue sighed again. "No, Brittany. Kurt and Blaine are not going to be angels, they might look as pale as angels, but they will not be angels." He explained simply to her.

"Now, Figgins has allowed me to let you guys take the rest of the day off since you've won Regionals and um…" Mr. Shue was at a loss of words, knowing that Figgins had given the New Directions the rest of the day off only after he insisted that the group would not take the news easily. "And that heard about this from me." He finished. "But before I let you guys go home, I think we'd better draw up a carpool list so that when Kurt's found, we're not scrambling for rides. Does that sound okay with everyone?"

All of them nodded sadly, wishing they didn't have to do this. It was decided that Puck would drive Artie, Lauren, Santana, and Brittany in his huge Ford explorer and put Artie's collapsible wheelchair in the trunk, while Finn drove Rachel, Tina, and Mike in his car; leaving Quinn to drive Sam and Mercedes while Mr. Shue took his own car. Mr. Shue handed out special parking passes to the drivers to allow them to park in the teachers' parking lots closest to the school.

They all left the room feeling and looking forlorn, feeling the full effects of what had just happened.

* * *

The moon had risen high in the sky and the moonlight shining through the windows as Joey had finally fallen unconscious from the pain and the blood loss from the stab wound in his leg. Blaine and Mairead painfully kept working at their hand cuffs. Mairead swore as a wave of pain washed over her wrist and reverberated in her stomach, making her feel dizzy. She blurrily spat at her wrist, trying to lubricate it more so that it would slip through. "How you doing over there?" She called out to Blaine.

"Not getting much done, it's my damn thumb that won't slip through." He growled out of frustration. His brother and boyfriend were bleeding out and dying before his eyes and he could do nothing about it.

Mairead worked both wrists to try and get through when suddenly her left hand was free before she could realize it. "Blaine! I'm free in one hand!" She hissed quietly to Blaine not wanting to draw undue attention to their captor.

"You got free?" Blaine responded in same, talking quietly.

"Yeah. I think I might I have something that'll help if I can find it." She felt around the waistband of her jeans, feeling for her pockets since she couldn't see them. Feeling the small bulge on one side of her hips, she pulled out the cell phone and waved it at Blaine.

Blaine smiled for the first time in days. "Awesome." He said as she dialed nine-one-one and talked to the operator.

Mairead heard a single ring tone before hearing a female voice answer, "Nine-one-one, what's your emergency?"

"My name is Mairead Stryka and I'm here with Blaine and Joseph Anderson, and Kurt Hummel. We've been kidnapped and we don't know where we are. We're down on the lowest level of a house with only a small window high above us. I think the bastard who kidnapped is sleeping upstairs." She whispered rapidly and quietly as Blaine listened and watched the door.

"Okay, My-read." The operator said, pronouncing her name wrong as she typed rapidly on her computer. Mairead rolled her eyes. "I've got your location and sent ambulances and police to your location. Do you know how long it might be before your abductor comes down and checks on you? The police will be there as quickly as they can."

"Um… no, I don't know how long." She admitted.

"I need you to stay on the line and keep talking to me, sweetie. Are you hurt? Are any of you hurt?"

"Oh my god, _yes_ we're hurt. Kurt's hurt the worst though; he has a head wound that bled profusely and then lacerations to his right pectoral muscle along with a painful and probably second to third degree burn on his leg. Joey, sorry, Joseph has a deep stab wound to his leg and lost a lot of blood. Blaine and I have extremely raw wrists, Blaine has a big bruise on his face and I have a burn on my arm that's the same degree as Kurt and it's getting extremely painful." She gasped into the phone. She thought she could hear faint siren sounds in the distance.

"Good job sweetie, now I nee-" She was cut short as Mairead quickly slid the phone, still on, under her pants and into the front of her jean's waistband. Quickly pulling the front of her tattered purple shirt down over her jeans to hide the bulge of the cell phone, Mairead slipped her hand back into her bloodied hand cuff. Blaine looked at her with a feeling of dread as they both heard heavy footsteps stomping to the door.

Mairead mouthed, _I love you_ to Blaine as she set her face to an unreadable expression. Blaine nodded back once.

The door swung open and slammed against the wall behind it. Blaine was in disbelief at what he saw and his jaw dropped. Mairead could see that their captor had not taken the time to put back on his mask, but she still couldn't see anything without her glasses.

The room was still dark, but Blaine could see clearly the gun that was pointed at him. "I knew I should have killed you when I got the chance." The man growled at him. "I guess now's my chance." He pulled the trigger and shot Blaine Anderson in the gut.

"NO!" Mairead screamed as the shot rang out. It would ring out three more times as the man shot him in the arm near his wrist and in his right leg two times. Blaine fainted right away after the first shot to his stomach.

"You fucking son of a bitch!" Mairead screamed as he advanced toward her after reloading the magazine in the gun with a fresh one from his pocket.

He chuckled darkly. "I always knew you were going to be trouble, from the first sign when my neighbor adopted you from that stupid orphanage in Vietnam. I'm not sorry I have to do this." Mairead froze, finally realizing it wa-

The gun shot a bullet into her left shoulder, causing her to scream and also motivating her to move around; making her a harder target to hit. The man quickly shot her in the leg, almost shot her in the hip, grazing it instead, and finally missing her right hand and shooting her hand cuffed hand. She slumped forward in pain, pretending to be unconscious for all of the three friends' sake. Mairead heard the man laugh maliciously as he walked away from her. She continued playing dead as she heard another gunshot ring out and heard Joey whimper in pain.

The man moved on quickly, coming to the prone form of Kurt Hummel. He pointed the gun right at the boy's gut and shot him. Another shot was fired to the boy's leg. Kurt didn't react whatsoever to the damage done to his body.

The man quickly laughed and ran up the stair case, leaving the door open. Mairead opened her eyes and grew nauseated at the bloody scene before her. She slipped her left hand out of the hand cuff and painfully dragged herself over to Blaine. Blood splattered his face as she noticed when she put two fingers to his throat to check if he still had a pulse. He did, and then she remembered that her cell phone as still on underneath her jeans. She leaned against the wall and pulled it out with a bloody right hand.

"Hello?" She gasped into the phone.

"Honey! Are you alright?" The operator asked her in a shaky voice.

"No! That man… he shot us… He… hit Blaine… me… Kurt… and Joey… several times with his… gun." She painfully breathed out, taking a deep breath every couple of words.

"Stay with me, My-read. I need you to stay with me!" The operator urged as she took off her tattered shirt, and thankfully wearing a sports bra, and pressed it to Blaine's stomach wound. "Tell me how bad they are." Mairead could hear her rapidly typing on her keyboard.

"I… have… a GSW to my left shoulder… above my burn. I have another… shot that missed… my right wrist… but… I think… I broke it… My right leg… was shot… I think… above… my knee." She painfully gasped out the words. " Blaine was shot… in the stomach… and in the arm near his wrist," Mairead was beyond caring what word came first at this point as long as she could keep talking.

"He… was also shot… in his right leg… We were all shot in the our right legs!" She yelled into the phone, making that point clear. "Joey was shot in the leg… along with his stab wound... And I… think… Kurt was… shot in… the gut… but I'm… not sure.."

"Good job honey, stay with me! The police are swarming the house where you're at right now. I want you to stay with me!"

Mairead stopped listening to the operator, instead focusing on Blaine's fluttering eyelids.

"Blaine?" She gasped, her strength leaving her body by the second.

He looked through slit eyelids at his best friend and whispered, "If I don't make it, tell Kurt I love him." And fell back into the beckoning darkness.

"No! Blaine, stay awake! Blaine… you… stay… awake… right… NOW!" She forcefully yelled at him. As she looked at him, she could hear the sound of thundering footsteps above her and yelling "Clear!" every two seconds.

They were found.

**That was intense, even for me to write and then edit line by line. In my original plan for this story, I was planning on having three or four chapters of them being stuck in that basement and having that man torture Kurt and Joey some more before having Mairead call the police; but seeing how hard and painful it was just to write one **_**paragraph**_** of this chapter made it clear that I should only have one chapter of making Blaine, Kurt, Joey, and Mairead suffer. Honestly, I haven't exactly researched if the magnitude and combination of these wounds are survivable, so let's just go with it for now. ;) ****If I have already posted the next chapter, please scroll UP to the chapter navigation at the TOP of the page instead of the bottom**

**If you don't want to know what happens in the next chapter, **

**DO NOT SCROLL DOWN ANY FURTHER THAN THIS. **

**DO NOT SCROLL DOWN ANY FURTHER THAN THIS.**

**DO NOT SCROLL DOWN ANY FURTHER THAN THIS.**

**If I have already posted the next chapter, please scroll UP to the chapter navigation at the TOP of the page instead of the bottom**

**If you do have a need to know what happens, and it's because you know you're not going to sleep tonight after reading this, then you can scroll down to the very bottom of this extremely long note. Thank you guys so much for reading and please review!**

**8-6-11**

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**They all survive! I can't bear writing/reading stories where Kurt or Blaine die, so naturally in my stories, they are for sure going to damn well live!**


	16. Chapter 16

Men in black body armor swarmed through the entrance and pointed their guns with lights around the room.

"Freeze!" One of the men shouted at Mairead. "Show me your hands!" Mairead lifted one of her hands, keeping the other hand, the one that she thought is broken, on top of her shirt that was on top of Blaine's gut wound; her body twisted at the waist, her upper half of her body twisted towards Blaine. She looked blurrily at the man through slitted eyes before closing them. "Now the other one!" The man gruffly shouted at her.

"My… hand is… broken… and he... is going… to bleed… out if… I lift…it!" She panted loudly to him.

"What's your name?" He interrogated rudely.

"Mairead… Stryka. This is… Blaine Anderson. Over there… is Joey Anderson… and Kurt… Hummel… is right… there." She pointed blindly to each boy as she said to the man.

"Alright, everything is clear! We have four wounded persons in basement of house. I repeat, in basement of house is four severely wounded persons. Send EMTs down immediately." The man talked loudly into his radio, finally taking the barrel of his gun off of Mairead's heart, took the whole gun off of his body and setting it aside where it wouldn't get in the way. More black clad people swarmed into the room.

"Julia, you might want to come here." The man said loudly, waving a hand towards someone. "Okay, My-read. I'm going to take your hand off of Blaine here, but I'll put my hand on top of the shirt, okay?" The man's tone towards her changed quickly, from gruff to surprisingly gentle and soft. She nodded slowly, trying not to move any more to prevent the pain from rearing its ugly head at her. "Julia, here is going to help you to lay down, okay?" Mairead cracked open her eyes and inspected the man who was in her face as she nodded. The man had a black helmet that came over his forehead and wore clear plastic eye protector glasses. There was sweat pouring down his face as he looked at her.

"Julia," he called, "I'm over here, by the corner." He waved his black gloved hand again as he looked up towards the doorway.

A person dressed similarly to the man ran up to them and kneeled. Mairead looked at her person in the face. Having the same eye protection and helmet, Mairead could clearly tell she was a female officer. "Hi, sweetie, my name's Julia, and I'm a SWAT officer. I'll be with you the entire time until we get you to the hospital, okay?" She said to her, kindness permeating her voice and smiling at her.

Mairead gritted her teeth and shut her eyes. "Sure." She said through clenched teeth.

"Good. Now, Tyler here is going to pick up your arm and I'm going to help you lay on your back. On the count of three?" Julia looked at the man she called Tyler. He nodded his helmeted head. Julia put her hands under Mairead's back. "One… Two… Three!" Julia grunted as Mairead's body fell onto her hands and she gently lowered her fully to the ground.

Mairead groaned as she felt her arm, and her fractured wrist, drop on the ground beside her. Tyler put a large hand on the purple shirt that was plugging up the bullet hole left in Blaine's gut. He pressed down harder than he thought he did. Blaine started to wake up.

Surfacing from his state of painless bliss, Blaine woke up to people yelling around him. He opened his eyes and started to panic at all the people dressed in black around him, including one that had his hand on his stomach.

"Get… off… of me!" He tried to push the person off but his hands were still attached to the handcuffs. "Leave me… alone!" Blaine struggled against the oppressive hand on him.

"Hold it, Blaine. You're hurt. My name's Tyler, I'm trying to help you but I can't unless you stay still.

Blaine absorbed none of the sentence except for one word: _Tyler._

"So you decided to come back and beat me up some more, didn't you? Just because I like boys? I'm right here, go ahead and fight me!" Blaine shouted, looking at Tyler with unseeing eyes.

Mairead heard the shout coming from the boy next to her and figured out what was happening. "Blaine!" she half shouted, half gasped out. "It's me, Mari! Get your butt back here. Get your damn butt back here, right now! Run away from Tyler!" She struggled to sit up and drag herself over to him, but Julia held her shoulders down.

"Tyler!" Mairead gasped to the SWAT member. "What color is your hair?"

Tyler and Julia looked at each other at the peculiar question coming from the injured girl. "My hair is blond, why?" He asked urgently as he tried to get Blaine to lay still.

"Take off your… damn helmet! Let him… see your hair!" She shouted at him.

"Do it, Ty, before he hurts himself even more." Julia said impatiently.

Tyler took off his helmet, revealing sweaty, matted blond hair. "Blaine, look at me! I'm not Tyler." He said to the struggling teen.

Blaine shifted his eyes up to where Tyler was pointing to his hair, gasped and blinked a few times. "Wh-where am I?" He asked as he took a few deep gasping breaths. "Mari… where's Mari? Where's KURT?" He shouted to the man in front of him.

"Blaine! I'm right here, look to your righ-left!" Mairead yelled, turning her head towards him.

He did so quickly, before passing out again.

"Where's the guy with the lock picks?" Julia hollered to the room.

"I'm right here!" The guy yelled back, working on Kurt's hand cuffs.

The EMT with a yellow backboard came running towards Julia and Mairead. "No!" Mairead yelled at the EMT. "I'm… not going… to get… out of… here first. Get him out… before me." She pointed at Kurt, who was freed as Mairead was talking.

"But you're the one wh-"

"I'm not the one… with a shot to the… gut… or a… head wound…" She pointed out, trying to take deep breaths through her gasps of pain. "Get… everyone… out before… me." She looked at Julia, pleading with her eyes.

Julia looked at the girl for a long second before nodding. She could see the steeliness in her eyes, indicating she meant what she said. "Go, get to him before her." She instructed the EMT.

One by one, Blaine, Kurt, and Joey were all released from their shackles and strapped to backboards and whisked away into waiting ambulances outside.

"Mairead," Julia began softly, "Blaine, Joey, and Kurt are in ambulances and on the way to the hospital. It's your turn."

Mairead opened her eyes back to the pained slits she had used to look at everyone. She nodded slowly.

"I promise I won't leave your side. But you need to work with me, okay?" Julia gently gripped her broken right hand in both of her gloved ones.

A pair of new EMTs entered the near empty room with medical supplies and a backboard in hand. Another SWAT member came in with them holding a vest of some sort. An EMT peeled back both of Mairead's eye lids and pointed a too bright light into each of them, seeing if her pupils were blown or dilated; indicating brain damage. The other EMT was busy cleaning her left elbow, preparing it for an IV line.

One of the EMT handed an oxygen mask to Julia, indicating for her to put it on as he took some flat white sticks and putting them on Mairead's wrist, taping them around the swelling joint.

Julia gently lifted Mairead's head, sliding on the oxygen mask over her nose and mouth and making sure the strap wasn't going to hurt her.

Taking a neck brace, one of the EMT moved to put it round her neck, but Mairead swiped it away. The EMT took one look at Julia shaking her head before putting back into this bag. He brought the board down to the ground instead.

"Okay, Mairead. I'm going to put my hands under you and slide you onto the board. It's going to hurt, so get ready." Julia said, not waiting for her response.

Mairead slid onto the board with a loud grunt of pain. She felt straps go around the top part of her chest under her arms and secure her to the board. Her left hand sought out Julia's as she was being lifted up. Feeling something heavy cover her body, her hand was filled by Julia who was walking beside her.

"Wh-what's on me?" Mairead asked tiredly.

"It's just a bullet-proof vest, sweetie. Just in case we're under fire as soon as we go outside. I promise, you won't get hurt; well, anymore than what you have right now." Julia replied tersely as they reached the entrance of the house. She nodded to a group of her fellow squad members as the surrounded the backboard and the EMTs as they walked out to the last ambulance at the entrance of an old decrepit cement building.

Mairead opened up her eyes all the way, seeing the bright, morning sky for the first time in a few days. Feeling herself being gently lowered onto a collapsible gurney, she groaned again; her leg had been jostled in the process. Julia had to let go of her hand so she could be loaded into the ambulance, but quickly climbed in and placed a hand on her upper left arm.

"… 'm sosleepy…" Mairead slurred as one EMT bustled with supplies around her while the other one jumped in the driver's seat and waited for the police cars to start flashing their lights and sounding their sirens before stepping on the gas pedal.

"I know, sweetie." Julia said, looking at the EMT who nodded. "You can sleep, I'll be right here the whole time. Close your eyes and sleep, Mari." Mairead nodded and slept.

Julia looked up and took her hand off of the young woman's shoulder after she was sure she was fast asleep. Taking off her helmet and glasses, she retied her medium length red hair and wiped her brow of the sweat that was dripping into her blue eyes. She could hear her radio chattering at her waist with words like "…Lima Memorial Hospital… follow the rig… all lights and sirens on… rig holding Blaine Anderson arriving safely at LMH…" Julia turned the volume down on the radio while the ambulance jerked and started driving towards Lima Memorial Hospital from Findlay.

* * *

Joey woke up to a room he thought was moving around him. He opened his eyes and discovered he was in an ambulance and turned his head to right, staring at a man in black body armor talking into his radio.

"Bro'her?" Joey croaked to the man, noticing the oxygen mask on his face.

The man looked up and took off his helmet, revealing sweaty light brown hair. "Joey? My name's Aaron. I'm the one who helped rescue you, Blaine and your other two friends." Joey nodded slowly as the man told him. "I know you're in pain, Joey, but I need to know who did this to you. Who kidnapped you? Do you know?" Aaron quietly, but urgently asked the injured boy.

Joey felt his eyes start to droop back down in exhaustion.

"Dad."

And then returned to the comforting blackness.

* * *

Kurt and Blaine were in their respective ambulances, and were speeding towards Lima Memorial Hospital. Neither of them had woken up as they both had tubes shoved down their trachea to make sure they had a clear airway. But somehow, they felt connected, even unconsciously they were thinking of each other.

* * *

_Tuesday, eleven o'clock in the morning_

The phone rang, and Mr. Shuester interrupted the Spanish skit his students were performing in front of the class room to walk and pick up. "Que pasa?" He said to the amusement of his students.

"Willi-am!" Figgins voice sounded through the phone. "This is no laughing matter. Kurt Hummel has been found. He is at Lima Memorial Hospital. A substitute teacher is heading up to your classroom right now."

"What?" Mr. Shue stupidly said, not comprehending.

"Kurt Hummel has been found. You can go to LMH with your glee club, Willi-am." Figgins repeated.

"Th-thank you, sir." He stumbled. Quickly running to his desk and grabbing his coat and car keys, he explained in Spanish that he had an emergency meeting to go to. He dashed out the classroom door, almost into his substitute, and pulled out his cell phone. Mr. Shue quickly sent a text reading _Kurts found. Get to LMH now._ to all the members of his glee club.

By the time Mr. Shue got out to his car, he saw a red Explorer and two other cars screeching out of the parking lot.

* * *

"Will all Warblers please come to the rehearsal hall?" The speaker over Wes' head sounded.

Wes stood up and walked quickly out the door out of his French classroom. He saw Jeff and Thad walking the same way. Once in the rehearsal hall and settled into the couches there, the principal walked in with a grim expression on his face.

"Boys, I have good news and bad news." All the boys looked at each other before facing the principal again. "Blaine Anderson and Kurt Hummel have been found and are being transported to Lima Memorial Hospital." Cheers rang out in the room, a few boys crying out of happiness.

"However," the grim mood was back in an instant when they heard and saw the expression of the principal. "They are severely wounded and both of them are still unconscious. I don't know the details of their injuries, but I do know that there was a gun involved."

The blood seemed to drain from each one of the Warblers as they tried to comprehend what was just said to them.

"Now, I've just had a bus pull up to the entrance. You boys go and pack a bag for the next seven days and go out to the bus. I've informed all your teachers that you are excused for the next week from any tests or exams due to extenuating circumstances. I have also booked a hotel for the next week, so none of you will have to drive back and forth." The boys mumbled together a hasty thank you and sprinted to the dorms to pack.

They all trooped out to the bus in civilian clothes, having changed out of their uniforms. Once in the bus, they quickly sat down; wanting to get to Lima quick, they all just chose a seat and sat in it. However, they left that long comfortable back seat empty.

* * *

Carole was working quietly at the computer station when she heard the radio go off nearby her. "Four rigs to LMH, holding three males, one female. All four have GSW to varying places. Two boys need immediate operations." She froze, a glimmer of hope growing and spreading through her body. Joining the rush of nurses and doctors at the ED doors, she hoped that the first rig that came by would hold Kurt.

The first ambulance came screeching and flashing as it slammed to a stop before the doors.

"Seventeen year-old male, Blaine Anderson, GSWs to lower left quadrant of thorax, one GSW to left arm, one to lower radius and ulna, approximately one inch away from carpal bones. Two GSWs to right leg, one GSW to upper tibia approximately three inches away from the patella, and one GSW to lower fibula, approximately four inches from tarsals. Given him saline and morphine via IV line to left elbow vein." The EMT rattled off as he opened the door.

Carole looked with horror as the body of Blaine Anderson came out of the rig with his chest bare except for the compression pack of gauze on his stomach and his dress pants cut off from his mid-thigh down.

Carole stood out of the way as a group of doctors and nurses broke away from the large group where Carole was standing to tend to Blaine as he was being wheeled into the ED with a black clad SWAT member with him.

Just as the first rig drove away, the second rig came into the doors the same way the first one did: screeching and flashing. The doors opened and out came the EMT pulling out the gurney while rattling vital signs and injuries to the second small group of doctors and nurses. Carole didn't hear a think as she rushed forward without thinking to find Kurt lying on the gurney with blood on his head and two shotgun wounds to his slender body.

"Kurt!" Before she could even get within two feet of him, someone pulled her back by her stomach.

"Carole," her friend Toni yelled in her ear, "you can't treat family members, remember?" Carole calmed down as tears rolled off of her face. Toni relaxed her grip as soon as Kurt was out of Carole's eyesight and hugged her before joining the next group of medical staff.

Carole quickly wiped her tears away and sent her own mind into a state of not feeling anything, it was crucial if she were to treat the next teenager who would come in.

The next rig came in five minutes after Kurt had been rolled into the ED. For the third time, the doors to the ambulance opened and out came the EMT and Joey's pale yet bloody body on the collapsible gurney. And once again for the third time, Joey was rolled into the ED; leaving Carole outside with the last group of her colleges and ED doctors.

The last and final rig came into the ED entrance and out came, surprisingly, a female SWAT member and then the EMT with the gurney and Mairead lying down in it. Carole rushed forward and checked the IV the EMT had put in out in the field, meaning the EMT put in the IV not in the hospital but rather on location when they administered first aid to her.

As they rushed her into a trauma bay and started cutting her jean pant off, Mairead woke up and noticed people rushing around her. "Julia?" she rasped out.

"Mairead, it's me, Carole. Kurt's mom, remember?" A voice sounded near her left arm.

Mairead slowly moved her head and saw the outline of a woman cleaning her left wrist with a stinging solution and then wrapping it in gauze hastily. "Carole?"

"Yes, sweetie, it's me." Carole crooked a finger towards the female SWAT agent that came with her.

Julia came forward unobtrusively to the other people working on Mairead. "I'm right here, too, Mairead." She said to the girl.

"Mairead, I need to know. How bad is Kurt?" Carole asked urgently as she hung a bag of electrolytes on her IV stand and attached it to her IV line.

"Bad," Mairead whispered. "He's been shot."

Carole's breath seemed to freeze in her throat. "He-he's been shot?" She choked out.

"Carole, you're getting to personal to these cases. I need you to leave the ED right now!" A doctor yelled at her not unkindly as Mairead's eyes rolled up into her head, passed out from the pain in her leg.

"Someone get a saw!" One of Carole's fellow nurses yelled out, lifting up the splinted right wrist with the broken and bloody handcuff still attached to her wrist.

"Don't worry," a quiet voice said. "I have to stay with her." Carole looked over to the red-haired SWAT agent and nodded before getting out of the way.

Carole quickly walked over to the room containing her step-son but was quickly denied a view as one of the doctors quickly yanked the door shut in her face. Sighing, she decided to slowly walk out to the reception area to wait for her son and his friends to come in.

* * *

All the members of New Directions crowded around the reception desk at the entrance of the hospital and immediately begin harassing the already busy receptionist.

Mr. Shue walked in and immediately calmed down his show choir before talking to the receptionist. But before he could open his mouth, he heard a female voice crying out for Finn.

"Mom?" Finn called out. The close group of friends parted the way for him.

Carole was silently crying. Finn ran to her and hugged her as she sobbed into his dark maroon-red puffy vest with a blue plaid shirt underneath it.

"Ms. Hudson, how's Kurt doing?" Mercedes asked in a cracked whisper, trying to hold back tears.

Carole only shook her head, too distraught to talk. After calming down for a bit, she led her son's show choir into a spacious room not too far away from the operating rooms or the ED. They all took seats around the room, on chairs and sofas, on the floor and standing; some of them too anxious to sit down were pacing back and forth.

A few minutes later, Burt burst into the room. "Carole? Honey?" He said loudly.

"Over here, Burt." Finn said to Burt from the sofa where he was hugging his mother one armed. Immediately, Burt went over and cradled Carole's sobbing body in his arms.

It was only an hour later that door opened again and in came a group of boys that looked quite familiar to the New Directions. It was the Warblers; they came in looking anxious and tired at the same time.

Taking one look at the mismatched group of people in the room they were led to, they decided to just nodded their greetings and all sat down on the floor together at the opposite end of the private waiting room.

Half an hour later, the door burst open and a group of four people were trying to catch their breath.

"Where's Mairead?" The tallest man boomed as he was gasping.

"Where's Blaine?" A blond girl about their age asked behind him.

"Lauren? How did you get here?" Wes asked surprised.

"Wait, wait a second." Mr. Shue stopped them. "Who exactly are you guys?"

"My name is Jason Styka, this is my wife Sarah, and my son Nick. We're Mairead's family." Jason explained.

"And I'm Lauren Anderson, Blaine's younger and Joey's older sister." The blond girl answered.

The New Directions looked at each other. "Who's My-raid?" Quinn asked, pronouncing the name wrong.

"Mairead's the girl who was kidnapped along with Kurt, Blaine, and Joey. She's Blaine's best friend who's a girl." Sarah explained breathlessly.

They all entered the room as they were being ushered in behind them from four people in black clothing with the word SWAT printed on their right chest pockets on their vests.

Three muscular men and an equally muscular woman entered and shut the door behind them.

"Is this all the friends and family of the four teenagers that were abducted?" One of the men said gruffly and loudly.

Everyone in the room nodded, clearly afraid of them.

"My name is Tyler, and this is Jim, Aaron, and Julia. We're the ones who discovered and rescued Blaine, Joseph, Mairead, and Kurt." He stated carefully, looking at the reactions in the room.

"We've been with all four of them since we rescued them and now all four all being rolled into the operating rooms. Would you like us to talk with each group separately or in one big group?" Jim asked the high school students and parents.

Everyone looked at each other and nodded. "I think we'd all like to hear the bad news only once." Mr. Shue supplied to the SWAT agents.

The agents nodded and sat down in the chairs Puck, Sam, David, and Thad sacrificed for them.

The female agent spoke up first. "My name is Julia, and I was with Mairead. It was originally Tyler who found her conscious in the place where all four were being kept and he called me over. Mairead was trying to urge Blaine to 'come back' to her as he was having some kind of vision or something and kept trying to get up to go over to him. Blaine finally did 'come back' and Tyler attended to him after. Mairead has pretty bad injuries; first and foremost, her wrists are rubbed extremely raw from struggling against the handcuffs she was attached to. One of her wrists had a broken handcuff still on her when we came down and secured the area. I believe she either found a way to break the chain and slip her other hand out or that the abductor shot the chain, effectively breaking it.

"Mairead was mostly lucid as she told us which boy was who. Her injuries, like I said, were pretty bad. She has a GSW, a gunshot wound, to her left shoulder, her right leg just below her knee, and a second to third degree burn on her left should, just below the GSW. She was also shot by her left hip, not quite shooting her hip bone, but grazed it instead. She's currently sedated and is in the operation room right now." Julia finished up.

Sarah was curled up next to Jason who had his arms around her. They were both crying silently along with Nick and Lauren.

"I promised her that I would stay with her; so when she wakes up, I promise I will do everything in my power to protect her while she is in this hospital." Julia said, speaking only to the Stryka family and Lauren. They all nodded.

"Hi guys, I'm Aaron. I was with Joey in the ambulance and in the place where all of them were found. I'll cut to the chase. Joey has a deep stab wound in his right lower leg, in his calf muscle. When I got to him, he had been shot in the same leg; about six inches away from the stab wound. He lost a ton of blood and when I was escorting him out to the ambulance. And, like Julia here, I also promised that I would not leave him until his abductor was brought to justice. Lauren, I will need to speak with you after we're done here." Aaron said to her as he finished his report. She nodded silently.

"Hello, name's Jim. I was with Kurt the entire time. When I found him, he was unconscious and his head bled pretty heavily. His chest was bleeding sluggishly from looks like a series of cuts carved into his right chest. He was shot in the gut about right here." Jim pointed with his finger near his belly button. "And then, like the others, he was also shot in the right leg below his knee. Also, I hate to repeat Aaron and Julia and probably Tyler here, I told Kurt that I would not leave his side even though he probably didn't hear me." Jim said.

All of New Directions, including Mr. Shue, were crying; tears rolling down their faces, they looked over at the Warblers and all of them had their heads down, some crying and some looked angry.

Tyler sighed heavily before he began. "I should warn you guys, what I'm about to describe is not going to sound pretty in any way, shape, or form. So if you don't want to listen or don't want to know, you can step outside the door."

None of them moved.

"Did Blaine Warbler grow wings and become an angel? Like I told these guys?" Brittany piped up. Silence reigned the space while everyone in the room held their breath for what could be coming Brittany's way from the SWAT member.

"Erm… no, um…" Tyler looked at her with a questioning look.

"Brittany S. Pierce." She told him proudly. A few people, including the other three SWAT agents, chuckled.

"No, Brittany, Blaine didn't grow wings or become an angel." Tyler told her kindly, a twinkle in his eye.

"However, he nearly did from the extent of his injuries." His face growing somber. "Blaine has had the most severe injuries I've seen so far in my career as a SWAT team member. He, like Mairead, had bleeding and quite raw wrists from the handcuffs. Blaine seemed to be trying to get away from me when I discovered Mairead holding her shirt over his gut wound and was telling me to fight him. She then asked me what the color of my hair was, and was able to bring Blaine back to lucidity before Julia tended to her." Tyler sighed heavily once more. "Blaine has a GSW to the gut, about the same place where Kurt's GSW is. His left arm, near his wrist, was shot. And, the same to the others, he was shot in the right leg; twice in the leg, a matter of fact." Tyler finished up.

Everyone was in absolute shock. Lauren was full out sobbing into Nick's shoulder when she heard the extent of her brothers' injuries.

"How-" David's voice cracked. "How long ago did each of them go into surgery?"

"Blaine pretty much rolled right into the OR when he came in. Just a brief stop in the ED to get the clothes off of him and then right into the OR."

"Kurt was much the same way. He came in after Blaine and then right into the surgical operation room."

"Joey wasn't in that much danger, if you compare him to Blaine and Kurt. So he had to wait for about fifteen minutes for an OR to open up."

"Ditto with Aaron. Mairead pretty much was the same thing." Julia finished for all of her fellow SWAT team members.

Aaron looked at his watch, seeing it was getting pretty late in the afternoon. "It's almost six o'clock, I'm sure some of you are going to want to go home and sleep. But I, meaning all four of us and the Lima and Ohio Police Department, need you to promise us that you will, under no circumstances, talk to the media about this until we have released a statement or given a news conference. Am I understood?" Everyone in the room nodded immediately.

Aaron nodded back. "Good. Now, there is the matter of security to these four teenagers. Since we haven't caught their abductor yet, or gotten any new information on his whereabouts, all of you will need to register for a permanent guest pass from the hospital that allows you to come into a room where anyone of the four are resting in or doing physical therapy or anything else. So after we leave, police officers and hospital staff are going to come in here with computers and portable printers to make badges for all of you. You will need to show the officers guarding the doors to their room before you're allowed to enter. We're in the process of trying to get all four of them staying in one big room to let you guys stay as long as possible with your friends. We'll let you know if that works or not."

"Do you know when we can see them?" Rachel asked the man quietly.

Tyler shook his head. "At best, probably tomorrow morning or so. Depending if they'll be able to wake up from the anesthesia and be alert enough for visitors."

Everyone was silent and looking at the ground when the four of them stood up.

"We'll be in constant contact with you guys if anything changes." Julia said softly as she exited the room.

Tyler stopped at the door way and asked for Finn, Burt, Carole, the Stryka family, and Lauren to come outside.

One of Carole's friends was waiting outside the door with Tyler. "Hummel family?" Tyler inquired. The all nodded. "This lovely lady said that there was a way for you to watch Kurt's surgery from an observation room above the operating room. Would you all like to do that? Jim would be going with you as well, for both security reasons and personal reasons."

"Why didn't I think of that…" Carole muttered to herself. "Yes, I think it would be best for us to see him." She awkward said, not really making sense in the moment.

"Very good. Carole, if you could lead your family and Jim up there, it would be a great help." She nodded and led her band of three to the room.

Tyler turned to the Stryka family and Lauren. "There's something we need to discuss in private." And led them to a small room across from the room where they had been sitting in prior.

* * *

As soon as everyone had gotten their badges, Artie had asked that they print out another copy of Brittany's, they started to head home but not before Wes stopped them.

"Wait," Wes started. "If some of you don't want to drive back to your houses, Dalton told us as we were coming out here that they booked rooms at the hotel right across the street. So if you want, some of us will go with you and get the rooms while the rest of us stay here."

The New Directions' members looked at each other. "That sounds like a great plan. Thank you." Mike softly said, talking for the first time in hours. It was quickly decided that Mike, Tina, Brittany, Artie, Santana, Sam, and Rachel would go to the hotel with half of the Warblers while Quinn, Puck, Lauren, and Mercedes would stay at the hospital waiting for Finn and stay the night. Mr. Shue agreed as long as the girls and the boys were in separate rooms, and decided to drive back home and return in the morning. Wes and David gave him their words and promises to keep them in different rooms.

* * *

Lauren and the Styka family sat down across from Tyler, Aaron, and Julia. Tyler turned to Lauren. "Your name is Lauren Anderson, sister to Blaine and Joseph Anderson?"

She gulped, nodding.

Tyler and Aaron looked at each other, Tyler grimaced. "Lauren, there's two things we need to tell you and neither of them good."

The blood drained out of her face. She gripped Nick's hand under the table as Sarah stood up and sat herself down on Lauren's other side.

"I'm extremely sorry to tell you, that at three o'clock this afternoon the police broke into your home after no one would answer the door and discovered your mother, Miranda…"

"Oh, God, please no. Please don't tell me, please…" She looked and sobbed pleadingly at him.

Tyler sighed heavily once more. "They discovered your mother, Miranda, beaten to death in the kitchen. I'm so sorry for your loss."

Lauren cried out and sobbed loudly into Sarah's shoulder, who was crying almost as hard as Miranda's daughter. Sarah had lost a very good friend and neighbor.

"Lauren," Aaron spoke softly, "I know you just had a big shock, but there's something else we need to tell you. Can you handle it?"

Lauren lifted her face and red-rimmed eyes at him before nodding.

"On the way here, I was with Joey and he had woken up briefly during the ambulance ride. I asked him if he knew who had kidnapped him. And he said that your father had done it."

Staring at him for a brief moment, she looked like she was about to regurgitate her barely eaten lunch nearly ten hours ago. Sarah had gotten the trash bin to her mouth in time. Nick rubbed her back soothingly as she heaved.

Julia got up and went out of the room, returning a few minutes later with a water bottle for the distraught girl. Lauren had finished vomiting at that point and muttered a quiet thank you to Julia.

"We need to know, Lauren, everything about your father. So we can find him and put him in prison for life." Lauren nodded as Tyler talked.

Lauren told him everything she could remember about the man she called her father. She cried a few times and Sarah was there to help her while Nick rubbed her back. Jason had gone back into the waiting room.

"You did good, Lauren. You did real good." Tyler said to her softly, an hour past from when they had started. "Now, you remember what I told the Hummels about an observation room?" She nodded. "It happens to be, that Blaine's OR also has an observation room. If you can handle it, we can all go up together and watch his surgery. How does that sound to you?"

"Let's go." She simply said and the four of them walked to the room above Blaine Anderson's OR.

* * *

Burt, Carole, and Finn were sitting in the seats closest to the slanted window overlooking the OR as three or four surgeons worked on Kurt's broken body. They were all talking quietly while staring at Kurt's unconscious face when all the surgeons stopped and someone yelled something and pulled a cart over to the side of Kurt's body.

"Oh my God, Burt! Kurt's heart…" Carole sobbed, pointing to the heart monitor above them. Burt looked up and nearly smashed the window trying to get to his son. Finn couldn't believe what he saw.

Kurt Hummel's heartbeat had stopped.

* * *

Lauren couldn't believe what she saw in front of the windows. Her brother's body was lying so incredibly still as several surgeons worked simultaneously on putting the broken pieces of him together. Suddenly, all the doctors in the room were shouting and pointing to each other various monitors. They knocked over a cart full of instruments getting a big cart over to the side of the table.

Lauren froze and slowly, inch by agonizing inch, turned her head towards the computer screen mounted to the corner of the observation room's ceiling and started crying at what she saw.

Blaine Anderson's heartbeat had stopped.

* * *

Kurt slowly opened his eyes, still feeling drowsy and wanted to go back to sleep when a voice called his name.

"Kurt."

The voice sounded familiar, but as if he hadn't heard it for awhile.

"Kurt."

Kurt was trying to connect the dots under his eyes. Where had he heard the voice before?

"Kurt, it's me."

Kurt's eyes snapped open. He was floating in some kind of cloudy world. He looked around, trying to find the source of the voice.

Elizabeth made her way to her son's back and touched his shoulder.

Kurt turned around, coming face to face with his dead mother.

"Momma?" He whispered, not believing his eyes. Kurt reached his hand out and touched her on the cheek. It was soft and warm.

"Yes, Kurt. It's really me. It's really Mom." She stretched her arms out for an embrace. Kurt threw himself into her outstretched arms.

They just stayed like that for minutes. Reacquainting themselves with the feel of a hug long forgotten.

"Mom?" Kurt asked. "If I'm really talking, seeing, touching, feeling you, does this mean I'm… dead?" He choked out the last word.

"Oh, honey." Elizabeth drew her crying son back into her arms. "No, this doesn't mean you're dead. But it means that you're close to death. So very close. It's too close for my comfort." She whispered gently in his ear, not quite touching her lips to his ear.

"Then what does this mean?"

"It means you have a choice to make, either you go back and live with Blaine for the rest of your life, or you can choose to stay here with me." She said sadly. "I don't want you to stay here with me."

Kurt quickly stepped back, as if he were stung by a bee. "You mean, you don't love me anymore?" His voice ripped through two higher octaves.

"No, no! That's not what I meant at all, honey." Kurt's mother said quickly. "I meant that you have so much more life to live. It's not your time yet, Kurt. But you have to choose to go back."

"Back to where?"

"You know where, sweetheart. Back to Blaine, back to the Warblers, back to Mercedes, back to the New Directions, and most of all," Elizabeth smiled sadly. "Back to Burt, your father."

"But I miss you, Momma! I just found you again, and now I have to let you go, again?" He cried out.

"Honey, you will never ever lose me. I'm right here," she placed a hand on his heart, "and here." She placed her other hand and Kurt's face, cupping his cheek.

Kurt looked into his mother's beautiful bright blue eyes. "Okay, I'll go back. There's something that's been calling this whole time I've been talking to you, Momma."

Elizabeth smiled and cried at the same time as she hugged her only son. "Remember, I'm always watching over you, and your father. Tell him I'm so glad he found Carole and that I'm not at all mad at him. And Kurt," She looked him in the eye. "You have found a beautiful soul mate in Blaine Anderson. Don't ever let him go."

Kurt hugged his mother one last, hard time. "I love you and miss you Momma."

"And I love and miss you too, Kurt, sweetheart." She let go of her son and kissed his cheek before slowly fading from his sight.

Soon, he was all alone until a thin yellow rope that seemed to be pulsating appeared. Kurt took hold of the rope and walked into the unknown.

* * *

Blaine slowly opened his eyes to a surreal environment. He looked around, seeing all the clouds surrounding him.

"Blaine."

He turned around quickly, but finding nothing he could see that was saying his name.

"Blaine."

Once again he turned around and saw nothing.

Miranda walked behind her son's back and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Blaine jumped and turned around. "Mom? What are you doing in my dream?" He spluttered.

Miranda smiled sadly at him. "Blaine, this is no dream, honey. I'm… I've died, sweetheart."

The blood rushed out of Blaine's body. "What? No, no. This isn't real, this can't be happening. "

"Sweetheart, look at me." Miranda tilted his cheek up so he could look at her face. "I'm dead; your father beat me to death when I spoke out against him. You should know, Blaine honey, I've always supported you no matter what. It was your father who insisted that I be harsh against you when you came out to us."

"So you never… hated me for being…gay?" Blaine said slowly, trying to comprehend what Miranda just told him.

Miranda laughed sadly. "Never in my life, sweetheart, never in my life. I was so proud of you when you told me. But your father brainwashed me into thinking that your lifestyle was wrong. But now I know better, it gets much better for you, Blaine. I know that this was the way God made you and be proud of it. Nothing will ever change the way I think about you."

"You know that it was Dad…that shot me, right?"

"Yes, and I am so sorry for the pain you had to endure. But know this, Matthew will get what he deserves, and soon. But you will always have to be careful with him." Miranda instructed her son. "Blaine, it's time for you to make a choice. Do you want to go back or do you want to stay with me?"

Blaine stared at her. "What-what do you mean?"

"Sweetheart, you have to choose to go back and start living again or you can stay here with me." She said simply.

"You mean all this time that I've been talking to you, I haven't been alive?" He asked tearfully, thinking of the pain he was causing everyone he knew.

"Blaine, you haven't died yet, but you are close to; too close for my comfort. I want you to go back. Back to Kurt, back to the Warblers; but most of all, back to Joey and Lauren." Miranda urged him gently.

He thought for a minute before answering. "Okay, Mom." He cried.

She opened her arms and he jumped into them, hugging her tightly. Miranda rubbed his back as he sobbed into her neck and shoulder. "Honey, I want you to know some things before I go. First, you will never ever forget me. I still live in here," she touched his heart, "and in here." Miranda cupped Blaine's face with both of her hands."Second, when you go back home, there is a secret box under my shoe rack in the walk-in closet in the master bedroom. Find it and put your name in the lock."

Miranda's oldest son looked confused. "Okay, but why?"

She smiled sweetly. "You'll know why soon, which brings me to my last point." She pulled Blaine back into a loose embrace. "You have found a beautiful soul in Kurt Hummel, he completes you. Don't ever let him go." Miranda pulled her son into one last tight embrace. "I love you, Joey and Lauren with all my heart, my entire being. I love you, Blaine." She said, crying.

"I love you too, Mom!" He half shouted, half cried, tears streaming down his face.

Miranda kissed his cheek before slowly disappearing before his eyes.

Blaine stood there for a moment before a thin yellow rope that seemed to be beating with energy appeared before him. He gripped the rope and walked forward to an uncertain future.

* * *

The two boys followed their ropes, trying to see in the darkness they were walking in. Soon enough, they could see a thin yellow line not unlike their own in the distance ahead of them. Squinting, they could make out a figure walking towards them.

Horrified expressions on their faces appeared when they saw who was walking towards them.

"Kurt?" "Blaine?" The two boys said at the exactly same time.

"What are you doing here?" They asked simultaneously.

"I just came here and my mom talked to me. She told me to go back." Kurt said softly, not taking his eyes off of Blaine.

Blaine chuckled quietly. "I was about to say the same thing. My mom's dead, Kurt. Matthew beat her to death." Blaine told him somberly.

Kurt stepped forward, closer to his boyfriend and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Blaine. But I know that she's watching you every step of your life."

Blaine wiped a stray tear away before smiling. "I know. C'mon, let's go back, shall we?" offering his arm to Kurt.

Smiling from ear to ear, Kurt grabbed his arm and they both sank back into their bodies.

* * *

Burt watched as the doctors zapped his son's body with electricity for the eighth time. He could see the doctors about to look at the clock to announce the time of death of his son when something glorious happened.

A bump on the heart monitor.

And then three more.

Soon, Kurt's heartbeat was beating normally and showing up on the monitor.

Burt cried out in joy and threw his hands and arms up in the air of seeing the one of the most beautiful scenes he's ever seen in his life. Carole and Finn were crying and laughing at the same time.

The doctors looked at each other confused, and started to carefully put Kurt Hummel's body back in order.

* * *

Lauren leaned her head against the wall, anguished with losing another member of her family when Sarah touched her shoulder. "Look, honey. Look at Blaine's heart monitor." Lauren did so quickly, looking for some tiny spark of hope.

At first, the flat line was still there; and then a small blip came along the flat line. Soon it was back to the regular crooked line of a rhythm of a human heart beating.

Blaine Anderson, her brother, Joey's brother, Miranda's son, was starting to come back to life.

She half laughed and half cried, hugging Sarah as they both jumped up and down.

They soon calmed down and watched the surgeons piece together Blaine.

**Wow, another monster of a chapter. I think, just for this story, I've written more than seventy-two pages in Microsoft word in about forty-eight hours; before editing it, I mean. This chapter felt so weird to me as I was writing it, so I hope that it didn't come off as bad to you guys. **

**For clarification, I think of the SWAT agents of like the characters on the TV show Flashpoint on CBS if any of you guys watch that show and the observation room and ORs like the ones from Grey's Anatomy. Don't worry; I'm not going use any of the names or people from those two shoes (if I did name one of the SWAT agents in this chapter exactly like the ones in Flashpoint, it's purely coincidental).**

**Thank you guys so much for read and please review! Thank you!**

**8-7-11**


	17. Defying Gravity

_Wednesday, six o'clock in the morning_

Knocking on the door to the private waiting where Quinn, Puck, Lauren, Mercedes, Jason, and half the Warblers were dozing fitfully on chairs and the ground, Lauren, Sarah, Nick, Finn, Carole, and Burt woke up the teenagers as a group of doctors trooped in the room along with two of the four's SWAT agents.

Rubbing their eyes, they took in the sight of five doctors with grim faces. Instantly alert, the teenagers all started asking questions at the same time.

"Guys!" Wes shouted over them. "Let them talk first and then we can ask question." They all quieted down and looked at Wes before looking at the doctors who would either make or break their hearts.

"Thank you." One of the doctors nodded to him. "I'm Dr. Moore and I treated all four of them on their bullet shots to their legs. Blaine had the worst case of the four. He had to have two plates, ten screws, and four pins put in to stabilize his leg. I've encased his leg from the mid-thigh down to his toes in a cast which he'll have to wear for the next two weeks and then go to a boot. Joey, Mairead, and Kurt had shotgun wounds also to their legs right below their knees. They all have one plate, five screws, and two pins in their leg. Like Blaine, the all have casts from their upper leg down to their toes; with the exception of a hole in Joey's cast but I'll let Dr. Doyle over there explain.

"I also treated Blaine and Mairead's wounds to their shoulder and wrists. Once again, Blaine had the worst of the two of them. The two long bones, right here," Dr. Moore drew two fingers along his arm from his elbow to his wrist, "were both shot right here." He pointed about an inch and a half away from his wrist bone. "His left wrist is now in a cast and will have to remain that way while the bones heal. I had to put in one small plate and two screws so after the bones heal, he will still have full mobility of his joint." Wes and Warblers breathed a sigh of relief. They all knew that he wouldn't be himself if he couldn't play his guitar again.

"Mairead had a wound to her left shoulder that looked more serious that it was. The bullet actually missed her shoulder bones and went cleanly though the muscle right below the bone. She got lucky with that shot. Her wrist however, was not shot nor was there a bullet wound; but since the bullet shot the hand cuff holding her right wrist, the bones in her wrist are cracked so her entire forearm and hand are casted." Dr. Moore finished, leaning against the wall.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Doyle." A female doctor introduced herself. "I repaired Joey's calf muscle. He should have temporary muscle weakness when he gets out of his cast and a small scar where the bullet entered and exited his leg, but no other problems. Because of his muscle wound, I had Dr. Moore cut an ovular hole in his cast so that the dressing on the wound can be kept clean and dry." She finished up.

"I'll just cut in really quick on Kurt Hummel's wounds on his head." Another doctor cut in. "I'm Dr. Mohammed by the way. When he came into the ED, the wounds on his head were not coming from inside his skull, but rather they were superficial wounds. He had to have forty stitches to his face in various places around his eyes, cheekbones, nose, and mouth. I had him in a CT scanner to check his brain for damage and all he has is a concussion so he is in no immediate risk of any cranial bleeding."

Everyone was quiet as they listened; the girls put their hands in front of their mouths in shock and not trusting themselves to say anything.

"The name's Dr. Berrent. I'm the one who repaired Blaine and Kurt's internal injuries. Both of them have damage to their small intestines and massive internal bleeding. During the course of both of their surgeries, Dr. Smith, who couldn't be here right now, and I noticed that the bullet was still lodged in their digestive system. And while we were searching for the bullet, both boys flat lined." He said with a heavy sigh.

The room was at a dead silence as they took in the news. Then all chaos broke out. Puck lunged towards the doctors with Lauren narrowly grabbing him by his stomach and pulled him back. He continued cussing and shouting at the doctors as he was pulled back. Mercedes and Quinn clutched each other sobbing. The Warblers were also shouting at the doctors with some of them holding their friends back from advancing towards the people who saved their friends' lives. Jason and Burt managed to calm down the room enough for Dr. Berrent to finish.

"We managed to resuscitate both boys and continued their surgeries. Now, since they were shot in their intestines, both boys have had a NG tube, a thin tube that enters through their nose and goes down to their throat to their stomach, inserted. That is how they will receive their nutrition for the next few days while the stitches in their thorax heal. Later, when they have woken up the NG tubes removed, they will have to start with liquid foods like chicken broth and such and then start to eat soft solids."

"I'll be quick about this. I'm the boys' cardiologist, ." A surprisingly young woman piped up. "After both boys were resuscitated, I was called in to examine their heart for the cause of their flat lining. The boys flat lined not because of their hearts, but of the blood loss. Blaine had to have eleven units of blood infused while Kurt needed eight blood transfusions. Both boys will need to stay in the intensive care unit for the rest of today before being moved into a room next to My-read and Joseph." She finished up. "Do you guys have any questions for us?"

"How long will each of them have to stay here?" Nick asked.

"I can answer that." Tyler cut in. "The Lima PD and the FBI have decided that all four will stay admitted for the next four weeks while we search and apprehend the criminal who abducted them. Because of the circumstance, these amazing doctors in front of us here have decided to do their surgeries pro bono." Carole and Burt's face lit up in relief along with Sarah. Everyone else looked plain confused at the phrase.

"He means that they all did the surgeries without taking pay, essentially volunteering to operate on them rather than charging them." Sarah explained to the high school students.

"Can we see them now?" Mercedes asked timidly through her tears.

Dr. Berrent thought about this for a second. "When they are settled into their rooms, I'll have the nurses call down here."

"You all have your badges, correct?" Tyler spoke to everyone in the room. All of them nodded silently, some taking their badges out of their pockets and holding them in hand. "Good, because from now on, you will have to show the police officers guarding the four before you can see them."

"Dr. Berrent," Finn asked, hesitating before asking, "Do you have a guesstimate as to when Kurt and Blaine will wake up?"

The doctor looked down sadly. "No, I don't. The damage done to their bodies was significant and to react to that shock, their bodies will be in a coma of sorts."

Everyone's eyes bugged out. "Let me explain. Do you know when you get tackled on the football field, you stay down on your back or on your stomach for a second to let your brain register what happened before the pain comes?" Finn, Puck, Lauren Zizes, and a few of the Warblers nodded. "Kurt and Blaine's bodies are working the same way. Their brains have to 'reset' before they can wake up. Their bodies have to comprehend what happened and heal for a bit before they can regain consciousness."

"Any other questions?" The doctor asked. They all shook their heads. "I'll have the nurses call when they're done."

"One moment respectfully, Doctors." Jim cut in before they started walking out the door. "Due to the severity of their injuries and the publicity of this case, we asked that no one talk to any of the media from anywhere on anything to anyone until the four have recovered enough to give statements. Julia and Aaron are over at the hotel telling your friends the same thing. The four and their parents or guardians will give a press conference along with the doctors and the people who discovered and rescued them; mainly us four. As soon as they have recovered sufficiently, the PD and FBI will determine a date to give the press conference. I will make sure that all of you will receive that date four days in advance." He finished before opening the door for the doctors and he and Tyler walked out the door.

Everyone sat in silence before Puck talked. "What does he mean the 'publicity' of the case?"

Lauren (Anderson) and the Styka family stared at him before Lauren turned on the TV. CNN immediately started displaying Anderson Cooper talking to the camera about the four and where they were found. The next picture on screen was an old, crumbling, grey building in the middle of Findlay. The building was an abandoned textile production mill and was currently being swarmed by police and forensics investigators along with several crime scene photographers. It soon switched to an overhead shot of a helicopter flying over the building where only a couple of police cars stood parked at the nearest and only entrance of the abandoned mill, barring anyone from entering. The scene then switched to a female voice talking over the picture of Matthew Anderson and listing off various negative aspects and physical appearances, showing a picture of the model and color of car he's driving.

Soon, the screen showed a reporter outside the main entrance of Lima Memorial Hospital with a reporter talking to Anderson Cooper via satellite and reporting on the possible injuries of the four teens could have based on "eyewitness reports" from people who supposedly saw the four of them coming out of the building. Lauren switched the channel to MSNBC and saw nearly the same sight, a reporter at the entrance of LMH and talking. Switching to the other channels, the saw much of the same sight. When they landed on ABC news, they were showing a clip from earlier showing the half of the Warblers and half of the New Directions coming out through the main entrance with their heads down, except for Brittany who was trying pose for the cameras while pushing Artie's wheelchair before Sam whispered in her ear and then she mimicked everyone else with the same somber expression. The police finally stepped in when the reporters blocked the doorway to the Hyatt Hotel across the street and wouldn't let anyone in if they didn't give them an interview; Sam, Mike, and the Warblers looked like they were trying to protect the girls from being pulled out of their little group while elbowing several photographers.

Sarah finally took the remote out of Lauren's hand before she could switch to other news channels. Turning off the TV, everyone was leaning against each other in exhaustion; barely anyone had gotten any sleep and those who did slept badly.

* * *

_Wednesday, eleven o'clock in the morning_

It was getting close to noon when someone at the door knocked. Jason slowly made his way over from his spot in the corner with his family. Opening the door, Wes and David walked in while the rest of the Warblers and the other members of New Directions were showing their badges to the police officers guarding the doors to the waiting room. Everyone came in bearing gifts of coffee, hot chocolate, bagels, and cream cheese. Mr. Shuester smiled at his glee club looking cheerful if only for a brief moment.

As they were eating, they broke into small groups and the teenagers who stayed overnight at the hospital broke the news to their friends. There cries of surprise and anger erupting at certain points of the narratives at different times. Finally, they all came together and worked out a game plan.

"Alright, why don't you guys go over to the hotel and sleep in the rooms we just left and we'll call you guys if anything happens; I promise. And then we'll switch again maybe around the same time tonight, so about eleven tonight, you guys come over. Sound good to everyone?"

They all nodded and slowly dragged their feet to the door. "Hey guys, wait!" David called right before they reached the door. "The two SWAT agents out there, um… Jim and Tyler? Are going to lead you out a different door so you won't get swamped by the media vultures around the front doors."

Nodding once more, they walked out and met the two SWAT agents. Jason, Nick, Carole, and Finn reluctantly went after Sarah and Burt insisted that they get stuff from home for the four of them.

It wasn't soon after that the phone rang. "Dr. Styk- err, hello?" She fumbled, remembering she wasn't at work right then. "Rooms seven fifteen and seven sixteen? Thank you so much, we'll be up in a minute." Hanging up the phone, she looked at the teenagers anxiously looking at her. "Mairead and Joey have gotten settled into their rooms on the seventh floor. If you guys want to go see them, you can go up there right now. Else, just wait here until the next phone call for Kurt and Blaine." Sarah said simply before sprinting out the door with Lauren at her heels.

The elevator ride was long and tense, stopping at several floors in between with people getting off. During the whole ride, Sarah and Lauren looked at the floor, not wanting to initiate conversation with the other people in the elevator. Once on the floor, they took their badges in hand and ran to the far side of the floor. Four police officers blocked the way to the two rooms until they showed them the badges.

"You go into there for a bit while I go in here and then switch?" Sarah asked Lauren quickly. She nodded before heading into room seven sixteen.

Sarah entered seven fifteen and discovered her daughter lying eerily still. Mairead was in the bed with a big neon orange cast on her right leg beginning from her mid-thigh and going down to the tips of her toes, leaving the toes open to the air. Her knee was bent down at a slight angle in the cast and there was a pillow right where her knee was bent to support the weight of the cast. Her right wrist was in a similar, but different casting compared to her leg to allow the cast to be removed so that the circular gashes to her wrist could be redressed daily. A sling encased her left arm where a huge bandage was covering her shoulder where the bullet entered and exited. Below the bandage was an area of skin where what looked like a very light bandage was put; Sarah suspected that it was where the skin graft was placed on her burn. Taking a peak under her sling, Sarah discovered the IV had been placed on the top of her left hand and her wrist was wrapped in gauze. There was a heart rate monitoring chord coming out of her hospital gown and attaching to the screen above the left side of the wall near her head with the screen angled towards the opposite corner of the room.

Taking a step back, she spotted a chair and dragged it over by her right side. Sarah sat down and let her tears fall freely down her face as she delicately picked up her adopted daughter's casted right hand and kissed her uncasted fingers. Being careful of the small cuts on her face and forehead, she combed back the hair that had fallen across her face, mainly across her oxygen mask. Mairead's eyes had deep and dark purple bags underneath her closed eyelids.

"Honey, it's Mom. I'm here, I'm here. Please wake up soon." Sarah whispered into Mairead's hand. Now, she could only wait while her daughter fights her nightmare demons she couldn't see.

* * *

Lauren entered her little brother's room, mentally preparing herself for what she would see. Her brother was lying on the narrow bed next to a steel pole that held at least three different bags of clear and opaque liquids; one was holding a crimson liquid, blood. Like the doctor had said, Joey's leg was in a big orange cast that was bent at the knee and had a hole in the side of it. The rest of him was covered up with a thin blanket with a tube filled with blood snaking out the left side of it.

Joey was shivering and Lauren took off her spring jacket, laying on him. She took the blanket and her jacket and tucked it under his chin, being careful of the oxygen cannula coming from around his ears and down his jaw line to under his chin. He started to move around a bit when Lauren put her hands on his forehead, feeling his temperature and looking at his heart rate screen above his head.

Seeing him move, she quickly but quietly walked to the door way and asked one of the police officers to fetch a nurse and a couple of blankets.

"Joey? It's me, you big sis." She softly said near his ear, standing by his right side and fishing out his hand out from under the blanket. Lauren took his limp hand and rubbed it with both of her own, trying to create friction to warm him up. "Joey, you're safe. You're with me, Joe-shmoe. It's me. Wake up. Please? For Blaine, please wake up?"

Joey started to move his eyes under his eyelids just as the nurse walked in with extra blankets. "Ah," the nurse exclaimed, "he's starting to wake up." She checked his vital signs as Lauren kept egging Joey into waking up. He started to slowly lift his eyelids, blinking slowly and not opening them all the way. Joey finally opened his eyes halfway and shifted his head so he could stare at her drowsily through his half-lidded eyes.

"Wah-er?" Joey rasped out before coughing painfully.

"Careful, honey. You had a tube down your throat during your surgery to help you breathe, so your throat's going to be sore for a little bit." The nurse gently told him as Lauren poured a cup full of water and put a white bendy straw in. She lifted the straw up to his mouth and slipped the straw between his parted lips.

Joey first sipped the water slowly, and then started taking bigger and bigger sips. "Joey, drink it slowly, you're going to get sick if you drink it this fast. Do you remember the time when you drank that big twenty-four ounce cup of Mountain Dew in one sitting and then barfed it up as soon as we were back in the car to finish the road trip from Chicago? Yeah, I don't think either one of us wants to relive that right now." Lauren said in a light voice.

Joey twitched his lips up in a small half-smile as he continued to drink the water; slowly, this time.

"I'll go and get something more substantial for him to drink; chicken broth sound okay with you, Joey?" The nurse asked as she handed the blankets she set down earlier to Lauren. Joey grunted before his eyes slipped back down.

Lauren unfolded the blankets and took her jacket off of him before covering him with two more blankets. Joey slowly moved his right hand out of his blankets and sought out Lauren's hand and squeezed it.

"Bla-ain?" He whispered, his eyes still closed but he moved his head towards Lauren.

Lauren shifted her eyes down; glad he couldn't see the movement. "He's… going to be okay. But right now, you have to focus on yourself. Okay?" She told him gently, waiting for his reaction. "The nurse'll be back with the broth soon, and then you can go back to sleep. I promise." She smoothed back his slightly curly black hair from his forehead while still holding his hand and sitting on the side of the bed.

The nurse soon did come back with a Styrofoam cup of chicken broth. "Let's get you upright first and then give you the broth." She set the cup on his bedside table and reached for the remote that controlled the bed. Pressing the button that lifted the head of his bed up, Joey groaned, reaching his left hand with his IV towards his leg and crushing his sister's hand. "I know it hurts, but only for a second more." The nurse said, still holding the button.

Lauren stared nastily at the nurse. _My brother is in pain and you insist on raising his head even more? Can you not see through your blind eyes that every time you move his head up higher, you're shifting his entire _body_? Considering how dim-witted you are, you probably don't._ She thought hotly, not exactly caring. "It's only for a few seconds longer, Joe. And then the pain will stop, _right_?" She directed towards the nurse, anger flashing in her eyes.

The bed stopped moving and he hissed out a breath through gritted teeth. "It…hurts… leg." He once again hissed through his teeth. Tears started to form at the corner of his eyes.

"Why don't you get something for his damn pain, already?" Lauren nearly yelled at the nurse. "Can't you see he's in freaking pain right now?" She wanted to say more, but bit her tongue to avoid swearing in front of Joey, trying not to aggravating him more than he was.

The nurse looked coldly at her before dropping the remote and stiffly walking out the door. Lauren looked back equally as cold as she tried and soothe her brother.

"Here, drink this, Joey. It's broth, it'll fill your stomach for now. I promise; it won't hurt anymore after you drink this." She urged him, lifting a spoonful up to his lips. One sniff of the broth and he turned his face away. "I know, it smells nasty but it tastes good. I'll promise to let you sleep as soon as you drink all of this down."

Joey reluctantly drank it all down slowly with his sister's help before drifting off to a fitful sleep filled with pain.

Lauren sank into a nearby chair after slamming down the cup, frustrated. She rubbed her eyes from behind her glasses.

"Badge?" a police officer from the doorway asked someone. A different nurse came in bearing a syringe. She nodded respectfully at Lauren before checking Joey's hospital wristband and injecting the syringe into his IV line.

Joey's breathing deepened and relaxed as he snuggled his head deeper into his pillow. Lauren took one last look at her sleeping brother before slumping in the chair besides him.

Sarah came in and nodded to her. "I'll stay here for a bit; Mari's still asleep." She whispered, looking at the pale boy on the bed.

Lauren sighed as Sarah leaned on the window counter besides her. She quietly recounted her tale with the nurse to her. Sarah was silently fuming by the end. "Why don't you go and sit with Mairead for a bit and I'll go talk to the head nurse on this floor. Joey's fast asleep; go, you need to be with your best friend right now." Sarah commanded in a firm voice.

Lauren nodded and kissed her brother on his forehead before walking out the door. Having the two rooms across from each other helped as she didn't have to flash her badge again; the officers just nodded at her as she entered Mairead's room. She looked at her best friend on the bed and nearly ran out. Taking a seat in the chair recently vacated by Sarah, Lauren clutched her sister's hand with both of her hands and let the tears flow freely down her face. "Please, wake up. I know you can wake up, so wake up. I need you, Mari. Please, I need you. You are the strongest person I know, to go through all this crap and then your crap in the past. So please, I need you. I can't… breathe without you." She half-whispered half-sobbed quietly into her hands, still holding Mairead's, her glasses fogging up with her hot breath.

Suddenly, a slight pressure on her hands alerted Lauren into looking up. Mairead's eyes were barely open, her eyelashes moving the smallest amount up and down were the only indication she was awake. "I…" Mairead struggled to use her voice. "I'm… still… here." She told Lauren before going back to sleep.

* * *

_Wednesday, four o'clock in the afternoon_

The phone rang and Rachel walked over to pick it up. "Hello?" She said, not her usual enthusiastic self. "ICU? Okay, thank you very much."

Hanging up the phone, she turned to Burt and the others in the room. "Kurt and Blaine are settled in the ICU, but the nurse said that they could only see two visitors each." She said softly, looking down at her feet.

"I'll go and see Blaine. Who else wants to come?" Wes asked his fellow Warblers softly, looking the worse for wear. David nodded and stood up.

"You guys don't have to come and see Kurt if you don't want to." Burt told his friends gruffly, trying to act tough so he didn't start crying. "He's probably going to look terrible and not be awake at all."

Rachel shook her head along with Mercedes. "We'll go with you, Mr. Hummel. No matter how bad he looks."

"But the nurse only said-"

"Screw the nurses, I'm going to see my friend no matter what those white chicks say." Mercedes said hotly. Burt only nodded as all four of them walked out the door to the nearest elevator.

Showing their badges to the police officers, the four of them were temporarily blocked for a minute as the nurse on duty told them how bad they might think they looked, but they were in better conditions than they thought.

Burt walked into the room alone at first so he could have a bit of privacy. His son looked so pale and so lifeless lying on the bed that he couldn't believe it at first. Kurt had a massive orange cast on his leg with pillows supporting it underneath, and a blanket covering his other leg and his hips. A massive white bandage was taped to his stomach and was barely moving up and down. Another bandage was covering the right side of his chest; Burt's left side as he was looking down. The NG tube that the doctors were talking about was snaking down Kurt's right cheek and up his nose. It had been taped down and a milky white liquid in the tubing.

Kurt's face was looking rather horrible, with gauze taped everywhere on his pale face. There was a long piece of gauze taped to the right side of his forehead, another covering the bridge of his nose, his entire left side of his face leading up and into his hair was covered, there were stitches not covered by gauze on his chin and jaw line, and Burt could see that there were a few stitches on his right cheek where the NG tube wasn't taped down. There was also a thick white and blue mouthpiece with a blue tube attached to his mouth, a ventilator to help him breathe.

Burt staggered, never had he thought that it would be this bad. He took a deep breath and step by step by step, walked over to his son. He gently took Kurt's right hand in both of his and started to cry. "Kurt, I never told you this, but when I was in my c-coma," Burt sniffed, "I could hear you talking to me. I know you can hear me, so I want you to please wake up. I l-love you, Kurt; and I can't stand the thought of losing you after I lost your m-mother. So, please, for m-me, for Blaine, please w-wake up!" He sobbed quietly.

A hand rested on his shoulder, he looked up. Carole was smiling sadly behind him."Honey, I know it's hard and you need to stay with him; but let Rachel and Mercedes come in for a minute. One of his doctors needs to talk with both of us. Okay?" She whispered in his ear. He nodded, tears still streaming down his face.

Carole helped him stand up and they walked hand in hand out the door.

"How is he, Mr. Hummel?" Rachel asked anxiously.

Burt shook his head, not trusting himself to speak.

"I think you'd better see for yourself, Rachel, sweetie." Carole told her gently. "We'll be back in a few minutes." Both girls nodded.

The pair of them were greeted by a doctor in her early thirties, looking grimly at him. "Mr. Hummel? My name is Dr. Piker, I was the trauma doctor when Kurt came in and I was also in the operation room with him; I was stitching up his lacerations. There is something of a private matter I must tell you about. Shall we go to an empty room?" She offered him.

Burt nodded, taking one last look through the windows and seeing Rachel and Mercedes leaning on each other. They walked a short distance down the hall and into a small office area. Dr. Piker offered them a seat and pulled out a manila folder.

"As I was suturing up his cuts, there were a series of deep cuts on his chest that were disturbing to everyone in the room." She opened the folder and set in front of them photos of Kurt's bloody chest. "As you can see in this first photo, there is barely anything recognizable. I had one of my nurses clean up the blood and this is what was revealed." The doctor set another photo on top of the previous one. Burt cried out.

Across the photo was a bloody word carved into Kurt's chest; FAGGOT, it read clearly in bright red letters.

"We have treated the wounds, but he will have scars in the shapes of those letters. I'm sorry." She said apologetically.

Suddenly at the doorway, Mercedes appeared. "Mr. Hummel!" She gasped. "Kurt's waking up!"

* * *

Kurt looked terrible in Rachel's opinion. He was so pale and still with various bandages all over his body, including the cast on his leg.

"Oh, Kurt." Mercedes said tearfully, sitting down in the chair Burt recently vacated. "Please wake up. Me and Rachel are here, and we just want to wake up. C'mon white boy, we gotta go shopping together soon. Please wake up." She rambled, thinking of anything to say to the unconscious boy.

Rachel was standing there, just looking at him. Then a brilliant thought came to her. She crossed to the other side of the bed and gently took Kurt's left hand with his IV and covered it with both of her hands.

"Kurt, I know what you did last year. I know that you threw the last note of _Defying Gravity_ so that you wouldn't shame your dad. But what you did, singing a song meant to be sung by a woman, was inspiring to me; even though I opposed it at the time. Like I said, Kurt, you're the only one who could compete with me for solos." Tears started rolling down her face. "Kurt, you can have all the solos you want, but please, wake up."

She wiped her tears and started to sing.

_Something has changed within me,  
Something is not the same.  
I'm through with playing by the rules  
Of someone else's game._

_Too late for second-guessing,_  
_Too late to go back to sleep._  
_It's time to trust my instincts,_  
_Close my eyes and leap._

_It's time to try_  
_Defying gravity_  
_I think I'll try_  
_Defying gravity_

Rachel didn't have the heart to sing the last few lines of the stanza, instead going on.

_I'm through accepting limits  
'Cause someone says they're so.  
_

_Some things I cannot change,  
But till I try, I'll never know._

_Too long I've been afraid of_

"Rachel, look!" Mercedes whispered urgently.

Rachel looked up from clutching Kurt's hand. Kurt's eyes were fluttering but still closed. "Mercedes, go get Burt." She said simply.

She ran from the room. "Kurt, it's me, Rachel. You're safe."

Kurt slowly opened his eyes and blinked several times. He looked at her with glazed eyes for a few seconds. He slowly raised his hand out of Rachel's, who quickly took her hand away, and wiped the tear that was threatening to fall off of her chin. Kurt tried to speak but soon realized that there was something in his mouth.

Burt, Carole, Dr. Piker, Mercedes, and a nurse came running in. "Kurt. It's me, Dad. I love you, son. I love you so much." Burt cried out, sobbing.

Kurt reached out for Rachel's hand. She gave it to him immediately. "What is it, Kurt?" She softly asked.

He laid her hand with her palm up and started to trace something with his finger slowly, realizing he couldn't talk.

Rachel looked down and tried to visualize what he was tracing in her hand. One line down, and then two bumps on the side…

"Blaine? You're asking for Blaine?" Rachel said, looking at his bandaged face.

Kurt gave the barest of nods, his eyes blinking slowly. He looked at Mercedes', then his father's faces, searching for an answer.

"Kid, Blaine's fine. You need to focus on yourself right now. You're in pretty bad shape." Burt tried to tell him convincingly.

Kurt didn't buy it from Rachel and Mercedes' reactions. He lifted a hand to his mouth and started to grip the tubes, intending to remove it himself.

Everyone clamored to stop him. Carole and Burt held both his hands down from each side of the bed. "Hold it, kid. You're going to hurt yourself even more if you try to do it."

A tear rolled down his cheek, but Kurt wasn't crying.

Dr. Piker was looking at a monitor that was measuring his oxygen input and output from the ventilator attached to Kurt. "Kurt, since you're awake I'm going to take the tube out of your throat, but you need to stay here for another day before you can go to a general room. Okay?" She looked him in the eyes, her expression gentle as Kurt nodded. "I'm going to ask you four to go outside of the room while I take the tube out. I will call you back in when he's ready." All four nodded and headed out the door with Burt going out last.

"Why don't you two go and check in with Blaine, while we wait out here? It'll do Kurt good if we can actually tell him something." Carole told them as Burt leaned his head against a wall.

The two girls looked at each other before nodding silently. They walked down the ICU hallway, not looking in the rooms in the ward until they reached Blaine's room. Wes and David were in the room on both sides of the bed in chairs and holding his hands carefully. Mercedes could see both boys had been crying; their eyes red rimmed.

Rachel's heart broke at the sight of Blaine in the bed. His leg was in a big cast under the blankets, a bigger bandage than Kurt's was on his stomach, a cast on his left arm was different from the one on his leg, gauze wrapping his right wrist, and a ventilation tube in his mouth. Blaine's hair was a shock of black against the stark white pillow. His face was as peaceful as it could be with a tube sticking out of his mouth. Rachel thought his eyes were the worst; under his eyes were bags that were so deep and nearly purple.

Mercedes knocked softly on the doorframe after she and Rachel showed the police officers their badges. "Hey, David, Wes." She said softly.

They both looked at the two girls, sniffing. "H-hey, Mercedes." David answered her, just as quiet.

"How is he?" Rachel asked Wes as she rubbed his shoulder.

"According to the nurses, he's lucky but bad. He's not going to be awake for a day or so, and he's had some internal bleeding so that's why there's like three blood bags up there." Wes pointed towards his IV stand. Neither of the boys could really focus on forming sentences that could make sense.

"I can't believe that anyone would do this to him. I really can't." David whispered into Mercedes' shoulder, she had kneeled down to his level. "If there was something going on at home or anywhere, I would think that he would tell us. I mean, when he first told us that he fell and his head on a step, I didn't think anything of it."

"Hey, you know that he didn't want to hurt you or anything. You need to remember that this isn't anyone's fault. _No one's fault_." Mercedes enunciated.

"Mercedes' right, Wes, David. It's no one's fault except for the person who did this to Kurt, Blaine, and his brother and that girl. You guys really need to remember this." Rachel voiced her agreement with Mercedes. "Why don't you guys go and visit Kurt, he's awake. He woke up a few minutes ago after Rachel here sung to him. We'll take over from here for a little bit. You both need a break."

Both boys nodded and stood up with the girls' help. They squeezed his hands one last time before walking out.

Rachel sighed as she took Wes' chair and Mercedes did the same to the other chair. "Some situation Kurt got himself into this time, huh?" Rachel quietly said to Mercedes, sadly smiling at her.

**I'm so sorry that this chapter came a week late! I was at my high school working as a councilor for my school district's String Camp watching sixth through ninth graders try to play through songs, nearly killing my ears, and I didn't really have time to write for awhile and I also had to do some college stuff so time was basically non-existent for me this last week. **

**This chapter is kinda crappy to me, I couldn't really explain in words what I was imagining in my head so if it seems kinda bad or confusing, I'm sorry. **

**I wanted to bring something that frustrates me and many other authors on this site that makes us very sad. Every time I post a new chapter, I look at my Story Traffic page that tells me how many people are reading this story and flipping though the chapters and only three people write reviews. It makes me, as well as all authors, sad that so many people read this but don't review. A review is extremely motivating and the more people review, the faster we can upload a new chapter. Granted, I did disable my anonymous reviews, but I did enable it a few chapters ago but I still only saw about three reviews for every eight hundred views of my story. And I know a lot of you have reviewed and I thank you from the bottom of heart. So please, press that review link right below this note and it only takes a few seconds to write something.**

**The next chapter should be up by Tuesday. Thank you.**

**8-14-11**


	18. I Want To Hold Your Hand

"Okay, Kurt, I'm going to start to pull the tube out of your throat now. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't going to hurt. It's going to hurt a bit and for a minute. We're going to keep your feeding tube in until your stitches heal." Dr. Piker told him as she and a nurse snapped on gloves and gathered some medical supplies.

Kurt nodded slowly, feeling the drugs trying to lull him back to sleep. He wanted to see Blaine so bad that his heart ached as bad as the stitches in his stomach and face. _Blaine, I love you so much. I need you._ Tears prickled the corners of his eyes.

Dr. Piker saw the small pools of moisture in his eyes and stopped what she was typing the computer by his IV stand. Taking up his hand in her gloved ones, her eyes softened. "Kurt, I know you want to see Blaine, but first we have to get you stabilized first and then maybe later, I'll have the nurses help you over to him. He's right next door and I promise you'll get to see him before you go to a regular room on Friday. Okay?" She quietly told him.

Kurt slowly rolled his eyes up to meet the doctor's soft green eyes that told him she meant every word of it.

"Okay, I'm going to start to take the tube out now. As I'm taking it out, I need you to cough. It's going to hurt when you cough, but it will get the mucus out. Are you ready? I know you're tired, but it's going to take just a little bit and then I'll let you sleep." Dr. Piker softly said.

Kurt nodded and closed his eyes, focusing on his own breathing as the machine was shut off. He felt a twang of pain as the tube that was in his throat was swiftly pulled out, causing him to cough quite hard. The nurse was putting a suction tube in his mouth as the tube was being pulled up so that it would suck the saliva and mucus out of his mouth so he wouldn't choke on it when he breathed through his mouth. The tube was completely out and Dr. Piker immediately strapped an oxygen mask around his mouth and nose to ease the sudden loss of extra oxygen to his lungs. Kurt felt that there was still something in the back of his throat and reached a hand to the doctor's arm to try and say something.

Dr. Piker turned around when she felt his hand on her elbow, gripping it weakly. Kurt took his hand off and slowly traced a line on his head from his jaw down his throat. "That's your feeding tube, Kurt. It'll have to stay for a few more days while your belly heals from the surgery. You can't eat yet so that's how you're going to "eat" so to say." He nodded slowly before he blinked his eyelids sleepily. "Your mom and dad are right outside the door, I'm going to get them."

Kurt motioned with his upturned hand and index finger for her to come closer. Dr. Piker obliged bending at the waist close to his face. "Thank… you." Kurt quietly rasped before coughing again.

The young doctor smiled. "You're absolutely welcome, Kurt. I'll see you in a little bit." Kurt nodded and closed his eyes.

Dr. Piker and the nurse finished up cleaning the used medical supplies before walking out. As soon as the doctor was out the door of Kurt's ICU room, she was shocked how dark it had gotten; it was getting close to nine o'clock. Walking swiftly to the hallway outside of the ICU ward doors, she saw the burly, bald man and his wife and son sitting on the probably uncomfortable chairs.

"Mr. Hummel?" All three of them snapped their faces up to her voice; she could tell they had been crying again. Walking to the isle of chairs across from them, she took a seat facing them. "Kurt did extremely well to extubation from the ventilator and right now he is sleeping from the medicines. His NG tube will have to stay in for a little while longer until his intestines have healed enough for him to handle liquids. I suspect that he will be able to move up to the room with Joseph Anderson on Friday or so. I've cleared it with the nurses that Kurt can handle more than two but no more than five people visiting him since he is awake now. His throat will be sore for the next few hours so if he needs any pain medication, please be sure to contact me or one of the nurses." She said simply, exhaustion creeping through her body. It had been a long day.

"Thank you so much, doctor." Burt said softly. The three of them stood up and walked into the ward while the doctor stayed behind, still sitting in the chair.

* * *

As Burt walked back into his son's room, he was still shocked at how battered Kurt looked. Kurt was sleeping peacefully at last, with no tube to help his breathing. Burt sat in the chair by his right hand and clutched as if his life depended on it. He silently started to cry, cry for what his son had had to go through for being himself, cry for his Elizabeth, cry for having the best son he could ever have.

Carole dragged another chair over to her husband and rubbed his back. Finn stood awkwardly across the other side of the bed, rubbing Kurt's cold forearm.

"Finn, sweetie, why don't you go and tell your friends to all go to the hotel and sleep. Burt and I will stay here for the night. You and the others go and get some sleep." Carole said firmly, but gently, when Finn started to voice his dissention. Looking defeated, he nodded and left the room.

Finn walked the hallways and rode the elevator in a daze, not really thinking at all. He walked back into the room where he, the New Directions, and the Warblers were basically living in for the past two days or so; it was close to midnight. Finn walked in and found them all talking together; they all stopped what they were doing at looked at the tall teen.

"Kurt's awake. Blaine's still asleep." Finn basically summed up. They were all asking questions at the same time before Puck and Thad calmed them all down.

"So, can we see them? I mean, if Kurt's awake and stuff…" Puck asked as Finn shook his head.

"Kurt woke up only for a little bit before he went back to sleep. Burt and my mom are staying with him tonight, and then tomorrow we can work out a plan where we can rotate who gets to stay with him and Blaine. But my mom says that we should all get some sleep in the hotel so we should get going." Finn said tiredly, Quinn getting up and walking towards him.

"I agree. We all need some sleep." Quinn said, echoing her boyfriend. They all walked out the door, leaving the room finally empty for the first time in a while.

* * *

_Thursday, eight o'clock in the morning_

Lauren had her head in her arms on the side of Joey's bed. After her best friend woke up, and fell back asleep, Sarah and her switched again so that they could be close to them for the night. She had been fitfully sleeping, waking up whenever someone came in the room.

The sun was shining through the window when Joey slowly woke up from his drugged sleep. The first thing Joey saw when he opened his eyes was the white ceiling lit up by the gold sun peaking through the horizon. He tentatively lifted his right hand to rub his eyes when he finally realized that he was no longer in handcuffs. A dull pain in his leg alerted him and made him remember what had happened the two days before. Joey looked down and saw his older sister sleeping on the side of his bed with her hand on his cast. Joey smiled sadly and tears trickled down his face, not because of his physical pain but because what he would tell her when she woke up.

_Dad, why?_ He thought, leaning back into his pillows and staring out the window; tears still coming down his pale face. _Why? I don't understand why you needed to go to this extreme. You hurt me, Blaine, Mairead, and Kurt just because I was supporting my brother? Dad, I just want to know why you tried to fucking kill me and everyone I love._ Joey sniffed as quietly as he could.

A rumbling in his stomach made him smile a bit. He hadn't eaten anything since they were kidnapped. Joey didn't count the "chicken broth" he had last night as actual food. Scanning the sides of his bed, he found the little red button that would alert the nurse and come to his room. A nurse walked in a few minutes after he pressed it. She was about to speak when Joey slowly brought his finger up to his lips and pointed at his sister with his other hand. The pretty brunette nurse nodded and came close to him.

"How did you sleep, Joey? Are you in pain right now?" she asked him, close to his ear as she pulled out her stethoscope from around her neck to listen to his breathing.

Joey shrugged once. "I'm more hungry than anything right now. The pain's not that bad. It like an ache rather than pain. Can I have something to eat?"

"You're supposed to have soft or liquid food for now, since you haven't eaten anything for about the last four days. I'll have the kitchen bring up a tray of scrambled eggs and oatmeal. Does that sound okay with you?" She whispered.

"Ew, not the oatmeal. Can I have… maybe pudding instead? Oatmeal grosses me out, but she loves it for some odd reason." Joey looked pointedly at his sleeping sister. "Oh, and could you get another blanket? Not for me, but for her." He asked drowsily, but not really wanting to go back to sleep. "She looks cold."

The nurse nodded to everything he said. "Of course, I'll arrange for a sleeper chair to be moved into here later today. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Joey sighed quietly, hoping that Blaine was alright and close to him. He could tell he was a two person room but the curtain was between him and the other bed.

A quiet knock at the door alerted him to a young man coming in and bearing a tray of food covered by plastic food coverings to keep it warm. The nurse followed him carrying an extra blanket and a pillow. Joey smiled at the young man who set the tray on the table and maneuvered it over towards him and removed the coverings before heading out. He took in the tray of food with his eyes, looking hungrily at the items. There was a plate of scrambled eggs, a glass of milk, a bowl of orange jello, and oddly enough, a bowl of oatmeal. He looked questioningly at the nurse who was draping the blanket over Lauren's shoulders and back.

"It's for her when she wakes up. I thought she might not want to leave your side so I just asked for a bowl for her." The nurse simply said quietly.

Joey nodded his thanks as he picked up his fork and started to eat his eggs.

It was just after eight fourty-five when Lauren stirred; Joey had just finished eating the bowl of jello. Lauren lifted her head from her arms and looked up sleepily at her brother when she jumped in her chair.

"You're awake!" She said, wide-eyed.

"No, I'm totally still unconscious." He sarcastically told her.

She rolled her eyes. "You okay? Do you need me to get a nurse?"

"I'm fine." He rolled his eyes in return. "I already called a nurse. How do you think I have all of this food in front of me?"

Lauren huffed. "Fine. Whatcha eating?" She looked curiously at his nearly empty food tray.

Joey shrugged, more awake this time after eating. "Just eggs, jello, milk. There's a bowl of oatmeal for you if you want it. The nurse brought it even thought I don't like it." Lauren took the lukewarm bowl in her hands and started to eat the gooey contents. "The nurse said that she would bring in a sleeper chair or something later so that way you won't hurt your back when you're sleeping." She nodded as she continued to eat.

They sat there eating in silence as the sun continued to rise in the sky outside the window, thinking of what they were going to do today.

"Hey, Lauren?" Joey asked his sister timidly, averting his eyes. "Where's Blaine? Can I see him?"

Lauren set her empty bowl down on the tray and took her little brother's hand in both of hers. "Joey, there's something I need to tell you." Tears shining in her eyes while she was quickly deciding to tell him or not. "Blaine's… in the ICU. He's in a coma of sorts but he made it out of this surgery fine. His injuries are pretty bad and I haven't seen him yet so I don't know how bad he's going to look." She told him gently.

Joey looked away and started to cry. "It's all m-my fault, is-isn't it? It-it's my fault that he was nearly killed. A-Along with Mari and K-Kurt and him. It's all m-my fault!" Joey sobbed, throwing both of his arms over his face and turning away from Lauren.

Lauren got on the bed, and gently pried away his arms to reveal his tear stained face. "Joseph Andrew Anderson. You listen to me right now. You had absolutely nothing to do with this. Listen to me! You. Did. Nothing. Wrong." She firmly told him, her own tears running down her face. "It was Dad who did this, not you. Not Kurt, not Mairead, not even Blaine. Joey, it wasn't you, I promise."

Joey turned towards her slowly, sniffing. Lauren raised her eyebrows while looking him in the eyes. He nodded, still feeling ashamed. "Okay, Joey?" She asked softly while wiping her face on her sleeves. Joey nodded once more. Lauren hugged him tightly when she leaned in. Joey hugged her back, as tight as she was hugging him. "I'm going to go and see if we can see him right now. Maybe we can get you in a wheelchair or something, okay? I'll be right back." She got off the bed and wiped her eyes one last time before walking out.

Joey covered his face with his arms again, trying to calm down before she came back. She was right, it wasn't his fault. But then why did it feel like it? Joey tried to think of calming thoughts as his heartbeat and breathing settled back into a normal pattern. He uncovered his face and looked out the window to the speeding cars on the highway trying to think of anything.

It wasn't soon after when Lauren came back with the same brunette nurse who was wheeling in a wheelchair. "Feeling better after some food, Joey?" She said, smiling.

He smiled back. "Yeah, loads better. Thank you for bringing it."

"No problem. Now, I've called the ICU and informed them that you're coming up so you're cleared to go. You'll need to go in this so it'll be easier on all of our parts." She patted the back of the wheelchair.

It took a bit of time to get Joey into the chair considering that he didn't have full control of his casted leg quite yet. It took them a good fifteen minutes, a few tears, many encouragements, a fair bit of cursing, four IV bags hanging on the pole on the chair, three pillows, and a blanket to get Joey in the chair. The leg rest was brought up flat with the seat of the chair so the cast could rest comfortably with two pillows supporting his casted bent knee.

"Comfy?" The nurse asked. Joey nodded, glad that the ordeal was over; for now, anyway. "Off we go then."

As they were out the door, Joey saw a familiar man talking with a police officer. "Hi, Joey. Do you remember me? My name's Aaron, I was with you in the rig." Joey's face lit up as he did remember, recognizing his voice and light brown hair.

"Yeah. Thanks for rescuing me." He said gratefully towards the man.

Aaron smiled from ear to ear. "It's no problem at all, I mean it. Where are you all going off to?" He looked at the nurse and Lauren.

"ICU, we need an escort." The nurse told him.

"Escort?" Joey asked, confused.

"It's for protection, not that anyone would try to jump us in the hall or anything with all the police officers around." Aaron told him as the all started to walk, roll in Joey's case, towards the elevator. Joey nodded.

They made small talk as they continued their way towards the ICU. The nurse, whose name was Mikayla as Joey found out, Lauren, and Aaron flashed their badges at the police officers who were guarding the entrance to the ICU. The police officers smiled sadly at Joey as he rolled by them.

"I'll go in first, Joe. Just to make sure no one else is in the room when you come in, okay?" She asked him. Joey sighed, nodding. His sister walked through the doors and disappeared from sight for the moment. Aaron and Mikayla were talking about some TV show when Lauren came out with two girls. One of them was about Lauren's height with brown hair and bangs while the other was an African American.

"Hi, Joey. My name's Rachel Berry and this is Mercedes Jones." The girl with the bangs kneeled down to him.

"Um… hi." Joey quietly said, not quite trusting them.

"I just wanted you to know that we were with Blaine the whole night and nothing's changed." Rachel told him.

"How… how do you know Blaine?" He asked them, trusting them a tiny bit more.

"Rachel here had a party at her house a few weeks ago and Kurt invited him over. So all of us, the New Directions, know him." Mercedes told him.

"Okay." Joey replied, anxious to see his brother. "Thank you for staying with him. It means a lot to me."

The two girls nodded and walked past him.

Lauren smiled sadly at him. "Are you ready, Joey? You don't have to see him if you don't want to."

Joey nodded his head once, his eyes set on the closed doors behind his sister.

Mikayla rolled Joey into Blaine's room and Joey looked at his brother in horror. Lauren's face mirroring his.

Blaine was literal meaning of battered until near death. Like Joey, his leg was cast the same way under his blankets. His stomach had a huge bandage covering his bullet wound and surgery incision; his right wrist bound tightly with gauze and an IV sticking out of the top of his hand; his left wrist also had a cast, but a different one from his leg. A contraption was in Blaine's mouth and nose, with a machine attached to the tubes. His eyes were closed shut, bags of black and purple under them.

"Oh my God." Joey exclaimed under his breath. "Blaine."

Lauren crouched down in front of him, blocking his eyesight. "Listen, Joey. You don't have to go in if you don't wan-"

"I want to go in." Joey cut her off, a steely look in his eyes. Lauren sighed, nodding to Mikayla.

Lauren entered first, removing the chair from her older brother's left side to make room for Joey's wheelchair. Mikayla slowly backed up the wheel chair while walking backwards, looking over her shoulder to make sure she wasn't going to bump anything. Lauren got out of her way and handed the folded up chair to Aaron who was standing in the doorway. She sat down in the chair on the opposite side of Joey.

"I'll give you two some privacy." Mikayla excused herself, closing the sliding glass door behind her as she exited the room.

Both Lauren and Joey took each of Blaine's hands gingerly in their own hands. Not saying anything, they both cried silently.

"B-Blaine, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I brought you into this. Please wake up, please." Joey quietly said, sobbing.

"Blaine, it's me, your little sis. I came in from California to watch you at Regionals." Lauren spoke softly rubbing circles on his upper arm with her hand she had taken off of his hand. "You did awesome, you know that? That was an amazing performance with Kurt and the Warblers. I need you to wake up so you can keep singing and performing for all of us. Please, Blaine, Joey and I need you to come back to us." She sniffed.

Joey and Lauren sat there for a good half hour, talking to him before Lauren noticed that Joey was beginning to look pained and tired.

"Joey, I think it's best we get you back to your bed." Lauren said to him softly through her tears.

He shook his head, still looking at Blaine's hand. Lauren waved a hand at Aaron, who was watching them through the window respectfully. "I think that we should. I know you're in pain, Joe. Think about it." The door slid open and Aaron walked in. "You're not going to help Blaine if you're going to hurt yourself because you're not resting. Blaine needs the both of us when he wakes up." Lauren tried to talk sense into him.

"Let's go, Joey. I promise he's going to be alright." Aaron said quietly, walking behind his wheelchair.

Joey took one last long look at his brother's face before gently squeezing his hand and nodding at Aaron. The SWAT agent clicked the brakes off of the chair and rolled him out. Lauren kissed Blaine on the cheek before exiting the room.

Coming back to Joey's room, both he and Lauren groaned; thinking how long and painful it would be to get him in the bed.

Aaron looked back and forth from the bed and Joey as Mikayla walked in the room, wheeling a sleeper chair in front of her. "I have an idea. And it'll take less time than before." The three of them looked at him. "Mikayla, why don't you transfer his IV bags back to the stand right now. Lauren, get on the other side of the bed." He told them as he backed up the wheelchair next to the bed and the steel pole. "Joey, do you trust me?"

Joey looked incredulous. "Considering you saved my life, of course I trust you?" He said, confused.

Aaron nodded. "Good. Now, put your arm around my shoulders." Realization dawned on Joey's face as he did what Aaron asked. Lauren and the nurse looked at each other, still confused.

"I'm going to lift him off the chair and into the bed. It'll be quicker and hopefully less painful." He simply said, sliding his other arm under Joey's legs. "On three, you ready?" Joey nodded. "One, two, three!" Aaron lifted him up and Joey grunted in pain. Lauren helped him set her brother down gently on the bed as Mikayla made sure his IV lines weren't going to come undone. "Nice job, Joey. You did good." Aaron voiced his approval.

Joey nodded; his eyes closed in pain as Mikayla lifted up his casted leg and placed several pillows underneath to prop it up.

"You okay there, Joey?" Lauren asked concernedly.

"Just tired, and hurting." He said tiredly, not opening his eyes.

Mikayla looked at the exhausted boy sympathetically. "Why don't you go to sleep, and I'll get you some painkillers." She suggested. Joey nodded slowly, already on the way to sleeping. Mikayla smiled at Lauren, who looked just as tired. "You too, Lauren. Get some sleep, I brought a pillow and blanket for you." She pointed quietly at the chair. Lauren smiled gratefully at her. A few minutes later, all three Anderson siblings were unconscious.

* * *

_Thursday, three in the afternoon_

Kurt woke up slowly to people talking around him. He opened his eyes to Dr. Piker talking to Burt and Carole.

"B-laine?" He croaked, his throat still sore. The oxygen mask was still on his face along with his feeding tube.

Everyone jumped, not expecting him to wake up for awhile. "Hey, kiddo." Burt said, smoothing back the hair from Kurt's forehead. "I'm here. You're okay."

Kurt slowly nodded his eyes once, breathing in deeply the oxygen from the mask through his mouth. "B-laine?" He quietly rasped again.

"What's that, sweetie?" Carole asked, getting closer to him.

"B-laine!" He croaked as loud as he could.

"Blaine's fine, kiddo." Burt said simply.

"Hi, Kurt. It's Dr. Piker. I'm just going to check a few things and then we're going to move you up to a general room. Okay?" Kurt turned his head and stared at the doctor.

"Y-ou… sai-d…" Kurt tried to talk without coughing.

"Deep breaths, I know it hurts right now." The doctor murmured to him. Kurt continued staring at her as he breathed in deeply though his mouth. She sighed. "After I check everything, I will keep my promise." Kurt nodded slowly.

Burt and Carole looked at the doctor. "What exactly did you promise my son, Dr. Piker?" Burt said carefully.

"I said that before I moved him to a general room, that he would be able to see his boyfriend before moving." She said distractedly, writing down numbers from a monitor.

"Are you sure that's wise? I mean, Kurt could get even more stressed than he already is." Carole asked.

Kurt rolled his eyes before turning his head towards his step-mom. "Ca-role. I'm… fi-ne. I ne-ed to… se-e B-laine." He breathed out through the oxygen mask.

Carole looked skeptical as the doctor called in a few nurses to help her with the monitors and his IV bags.

"Okay, Kurt, I'm going to roll you into Blaine's room but only for a few minutes. We need to get you up to radiology to x-ray everything before you go up to your new room. Okay?" Dr. Piker told him gently. Kurt nodded slowly, his eyelids blinking once slowly. The doctor nodded to her nurses and started to roll him out his room and into the room next door.

Kurt slowly saw his boyfriend come into view as he was wheeled next to him. One of the nurses lowered the railings on both beds before leaving the room. All of the nurses, Dr. Piker, Burt, and Carole stood outside the glass doors, staring at Kurt and Blaine.

Kurt reached his left hand across his bed and into Blaine's to grasp his hand. Blaine laid there, not responding to the touch. With his other hand, Kurt slid the oxygen mask off his face and down to his neck. He squeezed his boyfriend's hand gently and started to brokenly sing the song that he had sung to his father a few months back.

_Oh yeah, I'll tell you something  
I think you'll understand  
When I'll say that something  
I wanna hold your hand_

Kurt took a deep breath before continuing.

_Oh please, say to me  
You'll let me be your man  
And please, say to me  
You'll let me hold your hand  
I'll let me hold your hand  
I wanna hold your hand_

_And when I touch you I feel happy_  
_Inside_  
_It's such a feeling that my love_  
_I can't hide_

Blaine's eyelids started fluttering, but Kurt didn't quite catch the movement; he was concentrating on his breathing and their joined hands.

_Yeah, you've got that something  
I think you'll understand  
When I'll say that something  
I wanna hold your hand_

Kurt closed his eyes, but continued to sing as Blaine slowly regained consciousness.

_And when I touch you I feel happy  
Inside  
It's such a feeling that my love  
I can't hide_

Kurt felt a pressure squeezing his hand. His eyes snapped open and he slowly turned his head towards Blaine. Kurt kept singing raspily.

_Yeah, you've got that something  
I think you'll understand  
When I'll feel that something  
I wanna hold your hand_

Blaine opened his eyes and slowly turned towards Kurt, still squeezing his hand. Kurt smiled and tears pooled in his eyes. "I lo-ve you, B-laine. I l-ove y-ou so mu-ch. I'm ri-ght here." Blaine's eyes softened before the drooped back down and he fell back asleep.

**That took me awhile to get through. I had so many emotions for this chapter I wanted to put into words that I don't think I did it well, so if it comes off as corny, I'm totally sorry.**

**Thank you guys for all the reviews from last chapter. It really did help me in this chapter because I thought of you guys as I wrote it. As a little treat, I'm going to host a little chat on Ustream . com TODAY if you guys want to meet me and talk about this story. I'll even give out a secret or two if you come. The link to the live video is **http : / / ustre . am / C6ci. **Just take out the spaces. I'll open up the video at 4:45 Central time (I live in Minnesota) but the official video won't start until five. I'll post the link on my profile page too, if the link here doesn't work right (just click my name at the top of this page and it'll take you to my profile page).**

**I have one more last favor of you guys. If any of you are artists of any kind, it would make my heart ache, in a good way, if you drew anything from my story. I would be eternally thankful to you if you did draw something related to my story.**

**The next chapter might be up by Friday, so keep watching your email and favorites columns. Please review! Thanks, guys!**

**8-16-11 **_  
_


	19. Chapter 19

Blaine was fast asleep with this head still turned towards Kurt. The doctor had finally stepped inside the room with Burt in tow to move Kurt up to radiology. Kurt was still looking at Blaine's tired face, feeling a tiny bit happier that he finally got so see him.

"Hey, kid; it's time to go up. Okay? I promise you'll get to see him later when he's moved upstairs." Burt whispered softly in Kurt's ear as he gently slid his hand in Kurt's open hand.

Kurt nodded, understanding that he needed to be somewhere else for now. He slowly lifted up Blaine's limp hand to his mouth and kissed it gently. "I l-ove y-ou, B-laine." Kurt squeezed his hand one last time before slipping it out of his sleeping boyfriend's hand. He nodded to his dad and Dr. Piker before being quietly rolled out.

"Don't worry, Blaine will be with you in no time. I promise." Carole said soothingly to Kurt as he closed his eyes. Kurt nodded, distracted by a dull ache on his side that was starting to hurt more every time he took a deep breath. He took another deep breath to see if it was temporary; to his dismay, it hurt even more. Kurt cried out in pain, he clutched the left side of his chest.

"Kurt, what is it?" Dr. Piker urgently asked him as he started hyperventilating in pain. Each breath he took caused even more pain than before. Carole quickly slid the oxygen mask over Kurt's mouth and nose.

"My… ribs." He croaked out, tears leaking out of his eyes.

The doctor stopped the gurney in the middle of the hallway removed the stethoscope from around her neck. "Okay, Kurt. I need you to lift your hand so I can see your ribs."

His eyes squeezed shut. "Dad… it hur-ts." He half cried, half whispered.

"I know kiddo, I know. Here, grab my hand and squeeze. Kurt, I know it hurts, kiddo. Grab my hand and squeeze!" Burt said to his son, urging him to take his hand. It hurt Burt's heart to see the pain inside of Kurt's eyes when he finally opened his eyes and stared his father right in the eyes while grabbing his hand like his life depended on it.

Dr. Piker, Carole, and a nurse hissed when they saw the blossoming bruise on his side. It was deep purple and black and reached from the middle of his chest to just short of the bottom of his rib cage. Dr. Piker listened to his breath sounds and moved the stethoscope around his chest, listening to his heart as well as to his lungs. "I have a feeling he has a few fractured ribs and possibly one or two broken ones. The reason why they weren't discovered until now is what I can't figure out. We have to get him to radiology now!" The nurses and the doctor pulled up the rails on the gurney and started jogging the bed to the nearest elevator. "Burt, Carole, I'm afraid you can't come up with Kurt. You two go to Joey Anderson's room and we'll be up there as soon as the x-rays are done." The both nodded and kissed Kurt on his forehead.

"You'll be fine, Kurt. I promise and I love you." Burt whispered, his forehead touching Kurt's.

Kurt nodded before shutting his eyelids again as another wave of pain washed over him from his aching chest. He could hear the elevator announce its arrival as the doors opened and he was rolled in the moving room.

* * *

_Thursday, six in the evening_

Mairead woke up to her mom talking to her dad, Nick listening to his iTouch while staring out the window, and the sun setting outside her window right in front of her bed. _Looks like I got lucky with the view_.She thought as she rolled her heavy head towards her parents. "Mom?" She croaked out, her throat sore and dry from not using it for a few days.

Jason and Sarah snapped their heads towards Mairead. "Honey, you're awake." Jason said relieved, kissing her on her forehead. Sarah poured a cup of water and put a straw in. Nick handed his dad a small case that held his sister's extra pair of glasses. Jason handed the glasses to his daughter who put them on slowly; Mairead sighed in relief as the world came into clear focus again.

"Okay, sweetie, I'm going to move the head of your bed up but we have to move you down the bed a little bit because if I try to move your upper body right now, your leg is going to hurt." Sarah said.

Mairead nodded and with her father's help, she scooted herself a few inches down the bed while Jason elevated her back and held her while the bed groaned into action. She sighed as she lay back down on the bed but could see the entire room with looking up. Sarah helped her drink the water while Jason gently told her about the boys. She drank the whole cup and stayed silent after her father told her friends. "Where's Blaine? Kurt? Joey?"

"Joey's across the hall in the other room, Kurt's still in the ICU but he's going to be moved up here to Joey's room soon, and Blaine's still in the ICU." Jason repeated, thinking she spaced out during that part of his talk.

"Can I see Joey?" Mairead asked in a small voice.

Jason and Sarah looked at each other. "I think it'd be best if he comes to you. That way you don't need to get out of bed in your condition right now. But before he can see you, you need some food, sweetheart." Sarah told her as she pressed a red button on the side of one of the rails on her bed. As if right on cue, her stomach grumbled. Mairead smiled a half smile while looking embarrassed. Both of her parents laughed and told her they would return in a little bit because of some business they need to take care of before walking out the door.

Nick made sure that they were out the door before taking out his earbuds. "Hey, I missed you." He said quietly, getting off of the window sill he was sitting on.

She smiled wanly, getting a bit tired. "Nick," she asked quietly, a somber expression creeping into her eyes. "Did Matthew do this to us?"

Nick sadly looked down as he took his sister's hand in his. "Yes. It was him."

She sighed, knowing that she was right all along.

A nurse knocked on the door frame. She carried in a food tray and set it on the table without a word.

Mairead and Nick looked and blinked at each other. "O-kay… that was, odd." They both laughed a bit. "I hope there something good here, I'm freaking starving."

Turns out, it was just a bowl of chicken noodle soup, a bread roll, a bowl of jello, and a milk carton. Mairead could barely keep the food down because of amount; she thought it was a small meal but turns out it was a little too much for her to eat after not eating for awhile. Another knock sounded at the door after she finished her milk.

Lauren poked her head in the room, finding her best friend finally up. "Mari!" She yelled, half happy, half crying. Running over towards the bed, she hugged her as gently as she could in her excitement.

Mairead hugged back, being careful of her wrists to not bend the joints too much. "Lauren." She said simply, just enjoying the moment with her sister.

"Hey, what about me?" A voice called from the doorway.

"Yes, Joey. I didn't forget you, yet." Lauren said exasperatingly, rolling her eyes. She broke the hug and walked over to the wheelchair where she abandoned her brother in the doorway.

Mairead and Joey smiled at each other as they came face to face. Lauren backed her brother up to the side of Mairead's bed. Mairead did her best to lean over the side of the bed and give Joey a hug while they both cried. They leaned their foreheads together after breaking the hug, just clutching each other, comforting each other. The both saw a flash of light underneath their closed eyelids. Opening their eyes, they saw Sarah taking a picture with a grim expression.

"What…?" Mairead cocked an eyebrow.

Sarah sighed and turned her head towards the door. "The FBI wants to release a picture to the press of you two 'reuniting' so to say so that there wouldn't be any… rumors of you guys dying. I said no, but they said that either I could take the picture or they would come in and take the picture." She rolled her eyes. "Don't worry; this is the only picture I'm going to take. This camera isn't even mine."

Mairead and Joey nodded, understanding the ridiculousness of what was happening to them. "Can… can Mari and I have a little bit of privacy?" Joey asked timidly at all the people in the room.

Hearing the door close firmly, Mairead immediately turned towards Joey with a serious expression in her eyes. "How's Blaine doing? I know my mom's seen him but she's saying zip. Have you seen him? How is he?" She urgently asked him.

Joey's eyes turned down, he squeezed her hand. "Blaine's… in a coma. And on a ventilator." She gave a small gasp.

"But how is he?"

"He's not looking that great. From what I could see, he's bandaged all over his body. His right leg is like ours and I wouldn't bet that Kurt has a shot leg too." Joey said heavily, looking at his bright orange cast peaking out of the blanket on his lap.

They sat there in silence for a few minutes.

"Joey," Mairead softly started, "You know it was your dad that did this to us, right?"

"…Yeah."

Mairead looked him straight in the eye. "Joey, this isn't your fault. And I can see you blaming yourself right now. Don't. It's not your fault in the slightest. If anyone, it's probably my fault for provoking him when we both came home from Dalton." She told him softly.

"But-"

"No buts, ands, or ifs about this. Stop blaming yourself. Okay?"She told him firmly. "It was your dad. Not. You." Joey sighed.

Someone at the door knocked. "Joey? It's Lauren." She poked her head in. "Kurt's here."

Joey and Mairead looked at each other with wide eyes. Mairead nodded her head up and down quickly, her eyes still wide and still looking at Joey. "Lauren!" The both yelled at her as she nearly closed the door behind her.

She nearly closed the door on her fingers jumping in surprise. "What?" She yelled back in the room.

"Get in here!" Joey shouted, rolling his eyes.

"Lauren, can you tell my mom to get me a wheelchair? We both need to see Kurt and I need out. I've been cooped up for too long, I need to stretch my legs; figuratively, I mean!" Mairead added.

Lauren rolled her eyes at her best friend. "Okay, are you sure? You just woke up for more than two minutes today, have worse injuries than this little dude here, and you look like you're tired. Are you sure?"

Mairead gave her best friend her look that said, _Dude, just do it._ Lauren rolled her eyes once more. "Fine." Mairead gave Joey a half smirk and raised her eyebrows.

* * *

Kurt was aware of the tight binding around his chest as the bed ran over a small bump in the hallway, grateful for the binding or else it would have hurt like hell. He saw a group of people, including his parents, standing at the end of the hallway behind four police officers. The nurses and Dr. Piker showed the officers their badges and moved Kurt into the room on his left.

"Kurt, it's Dad!" Burt shouted as he was walking into the room behind his rolling bed. He came into Kurt's eyesight just as he was being backed up into his spot in the room closest to the door.

"I'm sorry, Burt, but I'm going to have to ask you to step out until all the equipment is set up for your son. I will get you after we are done." The nurse said politely to him.

"Kurt, I'm right outside the door." Burt called one last time before the door was shut in his face.

The nurse muttered something under her breath about meddling parents and roughly shoved the equipment she was wheeling in against the wall behind Kurt's head.

"Okay, Kurt, since your fractured ribs are starting to heal, I'm going to replace this oxygen mask with an oxygen cannula instead. That way you can still talk without being muffled by the mask. The feeding tube will probably stay in through all of Saturday and I'll see if I can get your gastroenterologist surgeon to remove the tube. Okay?" Dr. Piker said as she ripped open a package holding a coil of clear tubing.

Kurt nodded, his eyes opening and closing slowly. The doctor took off the oxygen mask and replaced with long clear tubing with two little prongs for his nostrils on his face, being careful of the feeding tube. She tucked the long tubing behind his ears with a smile, seeing his sleepy face. "We're all done here, Kurt. Do you need anything else before we leave?" Kurt opened his eyes and shook his head. "Okay, call the nurse if you need anything and I'll see you soon."

"Thank… you." Kurt breathed out, close to being unconscious.

As soon as Dr. Piker opened the door, Burt nodded respectfully to her and headed straight towards Kurt.

Kurt opened his eyes to his father standing over him and stroking his hair. "Hey, kiddo. You've got some visitors." Burt said quietly, tears in his eyes. He looked over to the door where Joey came in first in a wheelchair, followed by Mairead who was also in a wheelchair. Joey looked almost alright while Mari was bandaged and had casts everywhere on her body. Kurt had never been happier to see them. He smiled wanly as they both came up on sides of his bed.

"H-hey." Kurt attempted to clear his throat but the feeding tube got in the way in the back of his throat.

Both of them grinned widely at him as the each took a hand. "Kurt," Mairead asked softly. "Have you seen Blaine?"

"W-woke up." He croaked sleepily.

"Blaine woke up?" Joey and Mairead asked at the same time, astonished.

Kurt nodded, his eyes drooping from exhaustion.

Once again, Joey and Mairead looked at each other. Behind them, Lauren and Sarah did the same thing.

"Kurt," Lauren asked through her tears. "Is Blaine, okay? I mean, did he…" She trailed off, hoping he knew what she meant.

Kurt closed his eyes and nodded. Lauren smiled sadly.

"We'll let you get some sleep, Kurt." Sarah quietly said. "I'll let your mom and dad come in now."

Mairead squeezed his hand before letting go. Kurt smiled back while squeezing her hand in return.

* * *

Sarah wheeled her daughter back into her room and slowly helped Mari back up into the bed considering how much pain she was holding back behind her smiling façade. As soon as she was back in her bed, tears of pain started leaking through. "Mom." She cried out quietly. "My wrists… hurts." Mari gritted her teeth, nearly grinding them.

"I know, sweetie." Sarah said sadly. "Honey, what else hurts? Tell me, sweetheart."

"Leg… shoulder…headache…" She trailed off, a wave of pain crashing over her body. It felt like a thousand pounds pulling each of her limbs to the bottom of the ocean.

"Nick, come here." Sarah beckoned to her son, Jason had gone home for the night to take care of some business. "Mari, I want you to squeeze Nick's hand as hard as you can while I go get a nurse and a painkiller for you." She looked at Nick expectantly as she ran out the door.

"Nick!" Mari cried out in agony. "Why?" She sobbed heavily, both from the physical pain and from the thought that she caused all of this on herself and her closest friends.

Nick looked on helplessly as she tried to crush his hand with whatever force she could muster from her damaged hands. _That's it_. He took off his shoes and jacket, which had a lot of metal buttons and holes. Keeping one hand in her grasp, Nick got up on the side of the bed, carefully got behind her and leaned her against himself. "Hey, do you remember when you first came here? Hm? From Vietnam? You would always sneak into my bedroom to sleep with me because you didn't trust Mom and Dad at first. You were always speaking Vietnamese and I couldn't understand a word you said." He said soothingly as he rubbed her back. "I remember the first word you said to me, in English. It was my name, Nick. Well, you called me Nicky at first." She had calmed down a little bit but was still crying.

"I know you, Mari. And I knew that you didn't respond to your new name, your name right now. Mom told me your name that they called you at that orphanage, Chau. It means pearl, just like your name right now. Mairead means pearl. And you know what?" Nick whispered softly in her ear as he rocked her from side to side.

Sarah came rushing in with a nurse in tow behind her when she saw Nick on the bed behind Mairead. Her eyes softening from her calm but frantic expression, it was one of the sights she would never forget. The nurse checked her vitals and wristband before injecting the painkiller into her IV line.

"Mari, you are the pearl of the family right now. And I don't know how we got along without you." Nick softly said.

"You… sound so…" Her words slurring with drowsiness from the painkiller.

"Corny." And Mairead was out like a matchstick.

Nick rolled his eyes. "Well, it was kinda true and I did try." He whispered sarcastically into her hair.

Sarah came up to the side of the bed and rubbed her gay son's shoulder. "I'm proud of you, sweetheart." She kissed him on his temple while he blushed. "Do you want me to stay here tonight? I take over here if you want to."

"No." He shook his head. "I can stay here tonight. You go home and get some clothes for her to wear tomorrow? She's going to start complaining tomorrow when she wakes up and wants to take a shower." He rolled his eyes once more as he whispered.

"Okay. I'll be back in the morning. Call me if anything happens, alright?" She asked him as she grabbed her handbag from the windowsill. "I love you, Nick." She kissed him on his forehead and kissed her daughter before leaving the room.

Nick sighed and tried to get comfortable on the barely comfortable hospital bed. He pulled the blankets over his sister and started to fall asleep.

* * *

_Friday, nine in the morning_

Blaine cracked open his eyes to see Jeff and Thad sitting on chairs on both sides of his bed texting on their phones. He tried to open his mouth and talk but realized for some reason he couldn't. By the time he lifted a hand up to his mouth, Thad had noticed the movement.

"Blaine!" Thad shouted, startling Jeff into dropping his phone. Thad stood up and gently took away Blaine's hand from his ventilator tubing in his mouth. "It was helping you breath. You can't take it out yourself." He told him softly as Jeff slid open the glass sliding door to fetch a doctor.

Blaine tried to pull Thad's hand down to the bed, and Thad complied curious to what the lead Warbler was going to do. He flipped Thad's hand so it was palm side up and started to sketch something on his palm.

Thad looked on bemused, trying to figure out what he was trying to tell him. Blaine drew one line down the middle of his palm and then a sideways V connected to the line. "What? What are you trying to tell me?" Thad asked, still confused.

Blaine grunted in frustration and did the same motion again but one line at a time. "I." Thad said after he traced the first line. "V? Blaine, are you saying your IV hurts or something?" He asked, still quite confused.

_Seriously, Thad? Can you not connect the dots already?_ Blaine rolled his eyes and traced on his friend's hand a lower case K, hoping this time he would get it. "Dude, I'm still not getting it." Thad said flatly.

Blaine sighed painfully and in frustration. He tried to lift his left hand, but it felt too heavy for him to lift. Making a tapping motion on his index finger with his right hand, Blaine hoped that this time Thad would recognize he wanted a cell phone to type something in.

"Oh. You want to text?" Thad asked, finally realizing he needed something to talk with.

Blaine once again rolled his eyes as he nodded his head, being careful of the tubes coming out of his mouth. Thad placed his Blackberry in his right hand and looked on as Blaine typed blindly into the phone.

_Kurt_ Blaine typed slowly, not bothering with punctuation.

"Kurt's fine, he's in a room with Joey. You'll be up near both of them soon." Thad said softly.

_Marieda _Blaine misspelled without knowing.

"Marieda? Did you mean Mairead? She's fine. Blaine, don't worry about them. You need to focus on yourself right now."

_No_

Thad rolled his eyes as Jeff came back into the room with a doctor behind him.

"Blaine? I'm Dr. Piker. Are you feeling any pain right now? Give me a thumb's up or down if you are." She said, immediately looking a screen connected to his ventilator.

Blaine pointed his thumb down, considering he couldn't really feel anything. He watched with his eyes as the doctor told his friends that they had to leave the room as she and another nurse would be taking out his ventilator tubing. He never thought it would be so painful though.

"Okay, Blaine. This is the last part then I'll see if I can get you upstairs to a general room where you can see Kurt." Dr. Piker said, removing the unneeded supplies from the table besides her and getting an oxygen mask ready. Once again, she felt a familiar grip at her arm. Turning around, it was Blaine weakly grabbing her elbow. "Kurt's okay, I promise. You'll get to see him today." She soothingly said to him as he let go.

"Blaine, I need you to cough as I'm removing this tube. And as I do, Katie here will be putting a suction tube in your mouth to suck out the saliva and mucus so you don't choke, okay?" The doctor told him. He nodded, closing his eyes.

"On one, two, three!" The doctor pulled out the tube and Blaine tried as hard as he could to cough. He could feel the tube sliding out of his throat and another tube coming into his mouth sucking the thick liquid out. Blaine coughed painfully as Dr. Piker slid the mask over his mouth and nose. He could still feel something in the back of this throat though. Seeing as the doctor's back was turned, he looked towards the nurse who was cleaning up the tubing in front of him. Blaine touched the woman's arm and she looked up. He raised his hand towards his jaw and down his throat.

"That's your feeding tube." She said simply, her lips in a tight line.

"It's temporary, Blaine. It'll come out as soon as your gut heals enough for you to take liquids." Dr. Piker said distractedly, typing something in the computer.

Blaine took a deep breath through his mouth and nose and closed his eyes. _I can't believe I actually made it out of that stupid basement or whatever we were in. I thought Dad killed me… oh shit, what am I going to tell Lauren and Joey about Mom?_ Blaine opened his eyes after someone placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Blaine, we're going to take you up to radiology right now to x-ray all your injuries before we can move you upstairs, okay?" The doctor said softly.

Blaine nodded before closing his eyes and hearing the door open and Jeff and Thad come in. The doctor explained what was going to happen and told them to go up to the fifth floor to meet him there when his x-rays were done.

"See you up there, buddy." Jeff said as he was being rolled out of his ICU room. Thad had reached over the bedrails and grasped his hand. Blaine squeezed back before opening his eyes slowly and seeing unshed tears in both his friends' eyes.

"We should go." Dr. Piker said quietly. Thad let go and nodded.

* * *

_Friday, noon_

Mairead woke up to voices talking quietly behind the curtain that was blocking her view of the door. Nick had woken up hours before and was just as perplexed as she was.

"Hey, sis." Nick hugged her from his place on the bed, lying down beside her. Her casted wrist was on a pillow in his lap.

"Morning." She yawned. "What's going on right there?" She pointed with her eyes and tilted her head towards the commotion.

Nick smiled widely. "Oh, just a little surprise that Mom arranged. You'll see soon enough."

She cocked an eyebrow and closed her eyes again, still a little sleepy from the drugs and her nightmare.

"Hey, are you hungry? It's almost lunch. You have to be hungry." Nick nudged her gently in the shoulder.

Unfortunately, that sent a spear of pain up her arm and into her collarbone. She winced before looking at her brother. "One," she squeaked out. "Don't bump the arms, both of them. And two, yeah, I'm getting hungry."

"Sorry, Mari. I'll see if I can get you something soft to eat. Soup or something. Sound good to you?" Nick said as he slowly got off the bed, being careful not to jostle any part of his sister's fragile body.

She nodded, looking out the windows in front of her bed and sighing. _I hope Blaine comes up soon. _

"O-open it."

Mairead heard a very familiar voice croak out. She slowly sat up in her bed, looking towards the curtain. A nurse in dark blue scrubs rolled the curtain back to reveal a very tired looking Blaine Anderson.

Nick smiled at the two of them. "I'll go get you food, sis." He quietly left the room with the nurses.

Blaine and Mairead were just looking at each other, not quite wanting to say anything yet.

**Sorry, if it's a little late! I had some computer problems and totally thought that this stupid thing wiped out this chapter. Next chapter will focus primarily on Kurt and the New Directions. Also, I honestly don't know when the next chapter will come out because I may or may not be going to my first day of college on Monday. So keep an eye out for my email alert!**

**And please, please, please review. It's a little discouraging that I received only four reviews for about five hundred visitors and over 2300 views. :( Honestly, it only take ten seconds just write a review for someone. And I'm not just speaking for myself but for everyone on this site. So please, write a review.**

**If anyone is interested in meeting me, I do have a Ustream channel and if you would like to see what idea I have coming up for this story, shoot me a PM and I'll arrange a date. :) Also, if anyone is an artist, I would be more than happy if you drew something from this story. I'm curious to see how you guys imagine this story.**

**Thank you guys, from the bottom of my heart; and please review!**

**8-19-11**


	20. Chapter 20

"Blaine." Mairead whispered, tears popping up to her eyes.

Blaine smiled the tiniest of grins, his eyes about to close. "Mari." He murmured back.

She tried to reach out to him with her casted left hand but quickly realized the distance was too much. Instead, doing what they did when they were younger, she raised her thumb, forefinger, and pinky.

He slowly blinked and smiled as he weakly did the same thing with his right hand. They both reveled in each other's presence, not doing anything, not caring how the other looked. Just knowing that the other was alive was good enough for them. Soon, they drifted off on from the drugs; Blaine first and then Mari.

Nick came back to find both of them faced towards each other, their hands in exact same pose. He smiled and tucked the blanket around his sister and good-as brother.

_Saturday, nine in the morning_

Finn woke up to the phone vibrating in his hand. He was in a bed with Puck with Sam and Mike in the bed next to him. Looking at the phone blearily, he saw Burt's text saying that Kurt had woken up yesterday but didn't want to have many friends visit him at the moment because he was still extremely weak and sleepy; and he was now in room seven sixteen and Blaine was in seven fifteen. Getting up quietly, not wanting to jostle the bed with Puckerman on it, he walked over to the window to take a peek at the bright world outside. He sighed; it all still seemed surreal to him and the New Directions. Finn felt a hand on his shoulder and quickly snapped the curtains shut again. It was Puck who held a finger to his mouth, signaling that Mike and Sam were still asleep and that they should go outside the room.

"Dude, you're stressed. What's up?" Puck demanded as Finn quietly shut the door. Mike and Sam were up the whole night, on phone duty as they called it.

"Where's the damn person who did this, bro? I feel like punching a wall to try and find the freaking bastard." Finn said angrily, balling his fists.

Puck sighed as the both leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor. "I know, Finn, I know. But it's not going to do any of them any good at all if we go all vigilante on his ass for revenge. We don't even know where the hell he is!"

"But dude, if he's still out there, he's going to hunt down Kurt and Blaine until they're dead and we didn't do anything about it!"

"Doing that is going make everything worse, Finn! Use your brain! We can't do anything right now." Puck told him frustratingly.

Finn punched the wall, not quite leaving a hole but more of a dent. "Puck! This bastard _hurt Kurt and Blaine_. I'm not just going to stand around again let these things happen to my _brother_! If I do, it'll be just like when Karofsky threatened to kill Kurt and I _didn't do anything_. This is the one chance I get to actually do something to Kurt that'll actually matter for once!" Finn shouted as he hastily wiped the paint off of his knuckles. "This… Puck, if I don't do this, if I don't find the damn bastard, I'm going to be failing myself as a brother to Kurt and as a son to my father. Who _died_ a _war_ hero! If I don't do this… if I don't…" Finn sunk down to his knees, sobbing out of agony, not able to talk further. The stress of the last few days was beginning to show on him. He put his head in his arms, trying not to make much noise.

Puck looked at his best friend and teammate almost in the same amount of pain. Finn wasn't usually the one to assign blame to himself, but somehow he did this time. "Finn, bro, it's not your fault. It wasn't yours to begin with and it isn't yours to deal with."

"But if I had stood up for him at McKinley to begin with, he wouldn't have to transfer! He wouldn't be in this, damn problem or whatever! Puck, can't you see it's _my fault_?" Finn shouted again, pushing himself away from Puck.

_No one's going to get through to him…_ Puck thought sadly as he looked on to a sobbing Finn. _Unless…_ He stood up and walked away from his grieving friend.

* * *

"Door!" Tina shouted from the bathroom.

Rachel walked over and looked in the peek hole with one eye shut. "Oh, it's Puck. Lauren, he's all yours." She told her, walking back to her place in front of the window. Quinn, Brittany, and Santana had gone to see Kurt and Blaine after getting up before the four of them. Rachel, Mercedes, and Lauren had gotten a little lonely so they were hanging out in Tina, Quinn, Brittany, and Santana's room to figure out what they were going to do for the day.

As Lauren opened the door, Puck came in quickly. Shutting the door behind him and leaning on said door, he asked "Where's Quinn? Finn's kinda having a crisis." He looked edgily at the girls.

"She's at the hospital staying with Kurt right now… We were planning on going there right now." Rachel said softly, not looking from the window.

Puck sighed out of frustration. "Sam and Mike are dead asleep right now from staying all night with Kurt 'cause Burt and Finn's mom and do some paperwork or something overnight. So instead of asking Finn, Burt had asked Mike and Sam to stay with him." Puck rambled. "And now, Finn is freaking out because he thinks it's his entire fault for not protecting Kurt."

"Where is he now?" Rachel looked at Puck, turning in her spot from the window. Everyone looked at her, Lauren rolled her eyes.

"Why would you care?" Tina retorted. "He did dump you for Quinn."

"Because…" Rachel trailed off, trying to think of a viable reason. Sure, Finn was dating Quinn, once again, but there was a little part of her that refused to let him go.

Mercedes sighed in exasperation. "Okay, here's the what's gonna go down. Puck, Rachel, you two go to Finn. Me, Tina, and Lauren are gonna go look for Quinn. Tina, you stay here in case Mike and Sam wakes up." She pushed her hip to the side. "Everyone good with that?"

* * *

Rachel could see Finn sitting up against the wall with his knees to his chest; his head in his arms on top of his folded knees.

Puck laid a gentle hand on Rachel's shoulder as she started walking towards him. "You go, I'll stay back. I have a feeling he might not act… friendly towards me right about now." He said, trying to conceal the emotions behind his voice.

Rachel nodded as he blinked away the sudden tears in his eyes. He quickly walked back towards the elevators. Looking back to Finn, she hastily made her way to him.

"Finn," she spoke quite quietly, "Finn, look at me." She kneeled in front of him, smoothing out her skirt around her legs.

Finn reluctantly lifted his head out of his knees and looked at his ex-girlfriend with red, bloodshot eyes with tears slowly running down his face in wet tear tracks towards his chin. "I-It's all my fault, Rachel. It's all my fault." He whispered sobbingly, putting his head back into his nest of arms and knees.

Rachel gently pried Finn's arms off of his head. "No, Finn, it's not your fault at all. It's whoever did this to Kurt and Blaine that it's their fault. Stop doing this to yourself, Finn. What do you think Kurt might say to you if he was here?"

Finn sniffed and looked up with tired eyes at her. "P-Probably to stop acting like a stupid monkey who couldn't eat bananas or something. I don't know!" He looked back down to his shaking hands between his knees. "Rachel, I… I can't do this anymore. I just can't…" Finn broke down once again, sobbing back into his knees.

Sitting there, Rachel just rubbed his shoulders silently, wishing that there would be something to take the pain away from him and Kurt and Blaine. _No one deserves what all of are going through. _Rachel thought sadly.

"Finn!" A female voice echoed from down the hallway. Quinn was running towards them, her blond hair flying into her face when she screeched to a stop in front of them.

Rachel stood up, giving her space to sit down next to him. "Quinn," she softly spoke, "he needs to get out of here. Take him home?"

She nodded, a look in her eyes told Rachel she was thankful for staying with him. "I was going to do that anyway. Artie already called his parents to pick him and Brittany up from the hospital. Puckerman's going to drive Santana, Lauren, and Tina back to their houses. We'd thought it would help Finn's mind if you, Mercedes, Mike, and Sam were staying here." Quinn whispered quickly before focusing her attention on the sobbing boy in front of her.

Rachel nodded, and walked to the elevator, leaving Quinn to Finn. Riding the elevator down, she couldn't help but think he was right somehow.

Walking up the line of the four dark blue uniformed police officers, she showed them her badge. The nodded her through before resuming a conversation with his fellow officers across from him, guarding another doorway. Rachel walked into the room to find Mercedes at Kurt's bedside, gently holding his pale hand as he slept. Taking a seat in one of the chairs recently vacated from the three Cheerios, she smiled sadly to herself as she rubbed Kurt's upper right arm.

"Rachel," Mercedes whispered. "Have you seen Blaine yet? 'Cause when this guy wakes up, he's going to start askin' for him."

She shook her head. "I'll just check in on him real quick, he's probably still in the ICU. Have you heard anything from the Warblers?" Rachel asked back.

"Nope. I haven't seen any of them; they're all probably back in the hotel sleeping." She said simply.

Rachel nodded. "I'll be back in a minute." She quietly stood up and took one last glace at her friend's sleeping form on the narrow, and probably uncomfortable, hospital bed. Kurt's head seemed to drown in the white pillow he was resting on. Walking out of the door, she wondered how to get back to the ICU. "Excuse me, sir?" She timidly asked a police officer guarding the room. "I was wondering how to get back to the ICU? I just want to see how Blaine's doing, in case Kurt wakes up and asks for him."

"Blaine? You don't need to go to the ICU. He's right in there." The man pointed to room across from her.

Rachel's face lit up in surprise and happiness. "Thank you, sir." She smiled as she walked into his room. The curtain was drawn around the other bed in the room, making the light a bit simmer when she entered. To her surprise, David and Jeff were sleeping slumped in chairs at the foot of Blaine's bed while a blond haired girl sat in a chair on the side of Blaine's bed with his hand clutched around hers. Her head was resting in her arms on the bed as she slept, her glasses lying on the bed by her arms.

Blaine slowly turned his head towards her, a faint smile on his face. "Hey." He softly croaked, not wanting to wake anyone up. His eyes were opened half way as he blurrily glanced at her; the doctors had taken out his contacts. "W-Where's Kurt? Is he o-okay?" Blaine spoke, clearing his voice as best as he could with the feeding tube in the back of his throat. Trying to left his head up take a better look at her, he found his own head was too heavy for him to actually lift.

"Kurt's sleeping in the next room. I think he's rooming with… Joey? That's your brother's name, right?" He nodded slowly in response, fighting the small wave of nausea coming over him. "Anyway, he's sleeping and Mercedes' at his side. I just came in to check on you. How're you feeling?" Rachel asked as she made her way through the maze of the two slumbering Warblers at the foot of his bed. She gently gripped Blaine's right hand.

He squeezed back weakly in response as one of the boys stirred in his sleep on the chair. Blaine chuckled breathily as Jeff tried to get in a more comfortable yet even more cramped position on the cheap vinyl covered chair. "I'm fine for right now, I guess. Just a little tired, which doesn't e-exactly make sense considering that I've been s-sleeping for a while." His eyelids started to droop again, emphasizing his statement. Blaine tried to stifle a yawn, but failed miserable. "Tell Jeff and David to go back to the hotel to sleep when they wake up. They've been here almost … the… whole time…" He told her as the lull of sleep dragged him back under.

Rachel smiled as she rubbed circles in the back of his hand. She took a look around the room again and saw the two boys waking up.

"Mmm, Rachel? Is that-that you?" David yawned as he uncurled from his balled position on the chair. Jeff sat up and rubbed his eyes as well.

"Yup, just wanted to see if Blaine was awake. I'd figured if Kurt was going to wake up and ask for him, I might as well tell him the truth. It's going to be hard to keep him in bed when I tell him that Blaine's right across the hall from him." Rachel responded. "Where's his brother? I didn't see him in Kurt's room, either. And where's… My-read, is it?"

"Mairead." Jeff replied quietly, a faint tint of red coloring his cheeks. "Her name's Mair, like nair; ade, like, uh, lemonade?"

David rolled his eyes at his friend. "Anyway, she and Joey are down somewhere doing some physical therapy together. Seeing as they are the only two up and better of the four of them." He whispered as he got up and stretched his arms, letting loose one last yawn. "What time is it?"

"Around ten or so. Hey, Blaine told me to tell you guys to go back to the hotel and sleep instead of hanging around here. Seriously, you two stink. He told me you guys have been spending nearly all the time here." She held her nose and waved her hand in front of her face.

David childishly stuck his tongue out of his mouth while smiling.

Lauren started to wake up a little bit as she moved her arms when she heard the boys and Rachel talking. They all stared at Blaine's sister as she drowsily lifted up her head, looked at Blaine, laid back down, and went straight back to sleep.

Rachel looked concerned. "How long has she been here, exactly?"

The two Warblers looked at each other. "Er… longer than we have?" Jeff admitted sheepishly.

Rolling her eyes, Rachel sighed. "You two stay here while I go find Mairead's mom. She _definitely_ needs to get out of here."

David yawned yet again as she nodded. Jeff stood up and stretched. "I think I'll go down with you, I need food." He grinned lopsidedly.

Rachel rolled her eyes yet again as she started walking out the door.

* * *

_Saturday, noon_

"You little jerk! As soon as I can actually walk, I'm so dumping a pot of wet noodles on you!" Mairead half-yelled, half-screamed at Joey, who started throwing light plastic balls at her. He laughed and scooted away as fast as he could with crutches.

They finally got to go down to do some physical therapy after spending three days in bed. Joey and Mairead had gotten permission from their surgeons and trauma doctors to get off the drugs for a little bit for the sessions before being hooked back up for antibiotics and such. Sarah and Nick went home and got the two of them comfy clothes; mainly pajama bottoms and t-shirts.

"You know you have to catch me first, Mari." Joey stuck his tongue out as he sat down in a chair about fifteen feet away from her.

Mairead huffed and rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up. Just because you have crutches doesn't mean I can't still beat you up."

"Yes, it does."

Mairead shot an disgruntled look at him from where she was standing between two physical therapists with her arms around their shoulders.

Sarah smiled amusingly at the banter between the two of them from where she was sitting with Nick along the side of the room. Nick was basically playing Angry Birds, again, on his iTouch.

The door opened and in came on of Kurt's friends, a short brown haired girl. "Um… is Mairead's mom here?" She asked shyly, her voice barely audible in the big room.

"Yes?" Sarah answered automatically, thinking something went wrong.

"I was wondering if you could take Lauren home? She's basically spent every waking, and sleeping, moment in Blaine or Joey's rooms. And I'm worried that she's not exactly looking… healthy." The young woman said.

"Wait, Lauren's been here the whole time? I thought she was going with you?" Joey said to Sarah after nearly choking on a sip of water.

Mairead looked worried. "I was thinking the same thing. Isn't she going home with you?"

Sarah sighed. "She's basically saying she's fine every time I tell her to come home with me to take a shower and eat. I think she doesn't want to go because she doesn't want to go back to her house."

"Okay, that is it." Joey snapped. He grabbed his crutches and hobbled his way towards Sarah and Nick. "Let's go up and get her to go with you." One of the physical therapists gently grabbed his shoulder. "But Joey, your session isn't do-"

"Just think of me going up the elevator and walking on my crutches as the rest of my PT session." Joey interrupted, already impatient to literally knock sense into his older sister.

"But-"

Joey ignored him. "Let's go."

Sarah rolled her eyes and started to follow him and the brown haired teenager out. Mairead made a noise of protest. "Hey, what about me?"

"No. You absolutely stay here." Sarah said, quite firmly but gently. "Nick, make sure she stays here."

"Oh, c'mon." She grumbled to her mother's command.

"Nope. You stay here, sweetie. You finish your session. No, I'm not going to cave in this time to your stare." Sarah pointed out as her daughter slitted her eyes in discontent.

Mairead rolled her eyes from where she was on the blue mat. "Fine, tell her to sleep in my bed and use any of my stuff. Even my viola if she wants to." Sarah smiled and kissed her on the cheek. "Okay, sweetie, I'll see you tomorrow, Dad's coming by tonight."

Mairead rolled her eyes but smiled in response. "Love you, Mom."

Sarah smiled and walked out the door. Mairead could hear her mother asking, "So, you're… Quinn, right?"

"Ready to try again with the bars?" One of her therapist, Anne, asked.

She groaned. "Sure." She said through gritted teeth. The two therapists, Anne and another woman, hauled her up gently while being careful of the wounds on her left shoulder and arm. Luckily, one of them was shorter than she was, so they could get comfortably under said arm.

* * *

Lauren felt a hand shaking her from her sleep but she ignored it in favor of going back to sleep. "Go away." She mumbled and nearly fell back to the sleep but the insistent shaking didn't let her.

"Lauren, sweetie, wake up. Let's get you home." A female voice softly said to her.

"Mmm, not going." She turned her head away from the voice and covered her face with her arms.

"Lauren, wake up. I'm not taking no for an answer." Another voice, quite familiar told her.

Lauren grunted and dug her head harder into the uncomfortable hospital bed and deeper into her arms. "I didn't say no."

A couple of people chuckled as she groaned. _Dammit, I just no, didn't I?_

"C'mon, let's get you home, sweetheart." She felt hands to around her shoulders and lift her up.

Lauren reached a hand out for her glasses and shoved them on, ignoring the specks of debris on the lenses. She looked at Blaine as he slept. He looked more comfortable this time, sleeping peacefully instead of thrashing around from his nightmares in the night.

"Lauren, go home. Take a shower, you stink!"

She snapped her head around to scowl at her brother. "At least I'm not the one who leaves my retainers in the shower." She retorted quietly.

"Okay, break it up you two. Lauren, you're still going back to the house with me. Joey you are going back downstairs to finish you're PT session." Sarah told them.

Lauren widened her eyes. "But, Blaine." She protested. "I can't leave him here alone; what if he wakes up?"

Joey rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you definitely need to go home. _I'll_ stay here, you go." He balanced on one crutch as he poked her leg with the end of the other one, nearly falling over. He would have if his sister hadn't jumped up to grab the front of his blue t-shirt.

"You doofus! Stop playing around with your crutches or else you're going hurt yourself even more." Lauren told him, annoyed.

He regained his balance, with both crutches firmly on the linoleum tiles, and grinned.

She huffed as she winced at the sudden rush of blood to her legs.

"Seriously, I'll stay. You _need_ to go. You've spent too much time here already." Joey told her. He hobbled over to where she was sitting and sat down in the chair, leaning his crutches against the wall.

"Fine." She huffed again.

"Oh, and can you bring me something to do? I mean…" Joey trailed off. "I mean if you get into the house." He finished quietly.

Sarah placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled sadly. "I'll see what I can do. Maybe Nick'll have something he can lend you."

Lauren kissed Blaine on the forehead and gently gripped his hand again before leaving the room. She embraced her younger brother as he responded in kind, both of them hugging tightly while fighting back tears.

Both women took one last look at the Anderson brothers and walked out of the door for the day and night. Joey settled more comfortably in the cheap vinyl covered chair and snuck his hand into his brother's, feeling how cold it was. He squeezed it gently as he shifted his leg on the chair in front of him.

A few minutes later, both David and Jeff walked back into the room. Jeff had two cups in hand whereas David only had one, but the other one held two badges. "Hey, Joey." David said, surprised. "I thought you were down with Mairead doing PT?"

"Well, yeah, but then um… Rachel? I think? The girl with brown hair. She went down to where we were to get Mairead's mom to get her to go home." Joey summed up.

"Oh." David said as he and Jeff set down the three cups on Blaine's rolling table that was littered with various empty soda cans from different brands. He handed Jeff back his badge. "I don't know if she even likes coffee, but Jeff and I bought Lauren a medium drip."

Joey shook his head. "She doesn't drink the stuff."

"But I w-will."

Joey, David, and Jeff snapped their heads towards the figure on the bed with wide eyes.

Blaine's eyes were half lidded and sleepy, but he was awake, nonetheless. "Hey, guys. Wh-What time is it?" He yawned.

"Around one-thirty in the afternoon." Joey quipped, happy to see his brother finally awake. "Sarah just took Lauren home to sleep on a bed. Both of 'em'll be back tomorrow morning."

"That's good." Blaine said, drowsily.

David's eyebrows knit together. "I should go and get a nurse. Get you something to eat or drink."

Blaine nodded minutely as his eyes drifted back down. He squeezed Joey's hand a little tighter.

Joey looked up in time to see Blaine's eyes open up into pained slits. "Hey, Jeff, why don't you go and see if Kurt's awake." He nodded, sipping from his coffee cup once more on his way out the door as a nurse came in with David in tow.

"Mr. Anderson, You're awake." The nurse stated in a clipped tone. She walked over to his various IV poles and glanced at the numbers on the monitors. "Are you in pain?" She asked bluntly.

Blaine winced at the volume she was talking at. He could only nod through the pain.

The nurse pursed her lips. "Scale of one to ten. Ten being the most extreme."

He held up five fingers at first on his left hand, and then showed three fingers.

"Is that a five or a three?"

Jeff said to her in a hard tone. "I think he means eight. Ma'am."

"I'll be back." She was about to walk out the door until she turned back. "You do realize he can only have one visitor at a time and _he_ isn't allowed to visit him yet." She looked pointedly at Joey.

"Says who?" Joey asked, his rage rising.

"Says the rules. Now, you go back to your own room and one of you go out. Now. Before I call security." She told the boys in a venomous voice.

"Excuse me, ma'am. But are you aware that we actually are within the rules that were set for us?" David asked quite politely, barely concealing his anger.

The brunette nurse snorted. "What rules are you following?" She snapped.

"Listen, if you have a problem with us, then stop coming here to 'help' Blaine. Do you even know what he's even been through?" Jeff asked her angrily.

Blaine tried to raise his voice to tell them just to go, but he was in too much pain to do anything but keep his eyes open and listen.

"Yes, I do. And if I were you, young _man_," she twisted the word nastily. "I would respect your elders."

Jeff laughed mirthlessly. "Respect? I'll give you my respect when you _earn_ it."

"Excuse me? What did you say?" She half-shouted at the blond Warbler.

"Is there a problem?"

All five of them, including Blaine, turned towards the doorway where Tyler was standing in his SWAT uniform.

"Yes, as a matter of fact there is." The brown haired, albeit streaked with gray, nurse snapped. "These teenagers are disregarding the rules and are causing a disturbance to the patient. Could you please escort the two young men off of hospital property, please?"

Tyler raised an eyebrow at her. "Ma'am. They are entitled to stay in Blaine Anderson's room. Did anyone inform you of the particular rule changes around the four patients in these two rooms?" He swept an arm out the doorway to include Joey and Kurt's room.

She opened her mouth to argue when Aaron joined Tyler at the doorway. "I would recommend you get Blaine some pain medication, if you are going to do your job, ma'am." Aaron said, with an edge of anger in his voice.

The nurse glared at the boys before turning her heel and stomping her way down to the nurses' desk.

Tyler looked at Aaron and jerked his head towards the desk, motioning him to follow her. Aaron nodded quickly before rapidly walking the same way.

"Blaine, you okay, man?" David asked in a worried tone.

Blaine had squeezed his eyes shut and tears were leaking out of the corners. David, or Jeff, had placed his hand on top of his. He clutched at it tightly, not trusting his voice to express what he was feeling. Pain was exploding inside of him. Blaine couldn't concentrate on anyone point in his body. All he could hear was someone yelling and then a cooling liquid racing through his body from his hand. All of a sudden, Blaine felt immediately nauseous and started to turn on his side to expel whatever was coming up but nothing but air did.

"Easy, Blaine. You're okay." A familiar voice told him.

Blaine squinted his eyes open to see a blurry figure in a white jacket adjusting something on his face.

"Blaine, can you hear me? Give me two fingers if you can hear me."

He weakly raised his fore and middle fingers a few millimeters off of the bed.

"Good. I'm Dr. Piker. I was with you in the ICU." She said softly after seeing his response. "You're going to feel a little nauseous for a bit. I just gave you morphine for the pain, okay?" The doctor muttered something to a nurse, a different one, and he felt his upper body being raised as well as the sound of a motor. "I'm going to raise your bed a little bit. It should help with your dry heaving."

"Thank… you." Blaine breathed out. He felt a blanket being tucked over his shoulders and he drifted off to the sound of David and Jeff talking to someone.

* * *

Kurt woke up to the sound of laughter coming from his left ear, both of the voices sounding quite familiar. "What's so funny?" He mumbled, his eyes still closed.

The laughter abruptly stopped. "Kurt?" A voice asked him.

He finally opened his eyes, blinking several times to clear the outline of the blurry figures by him. Rachel and Mercedes were looking at him with wide eyes.

"Where's-" A fit of coughing came over him as he expelled whatever was in his lungs. Rachel had run out of the room to get a nurse while Mercedes rubbed the back of his hand soothingly.

"You're okay, boo." Mercedes said as she watched her friend cough painfully.

"I forget," he croaked out, "how did you get to be my nickname?"

Mercedes laughed and smiled. "'Cause you're pale as a ghost and scare the crap out of me whenever I'm at my locker."

Kurt laid back and squeezed her hand back. His eyes were starting to droop from exhaustion from the force of his coughing. He reached up with his other hand to touch his face since he couldn't feel his face at all.

Mercedes caught his hand before it could touch his nose. "Ah, ah. No, you don't."

"B-But Mercedes-" Kurt stuttered, trying to clear his throat of the itch in the back. He reached up with the other hand and, before Mercedes could stop him, felt his nose covered in gauze. His eyes widened as he traced the gauze up to his forehead where there was even more gauze. "What… the… hell?" Kurt breathed out. "Mercedes, give me a m-mirror."

Mercedes shook her head. "White boy, trust me. You do _not_ want to see what you look like right now."

"Mercedes. Mirror. Now."

"No."

Kurt glared at her as best as he could through his haze of drugs. "Y-You know I'm going to drag myself to a mirror even if it _nearly_ k-kills me." He grabbed a fistful of his blanket to prove that he would.

"Oh, no you will not." Rachel said as a nurse followed her into the room.

Kurt gave her the best "bitch, please" he could muster as he was getting dangerously close to going back to sleep.

"How're you feeling, Kurt? Are you in any pain?" The blond nurse asked as she checked his monitors and IV bags.

"N-no, I can't really feel anything at a-all." He stuttered a little bit, finally remembering that his NG tube was still in. "When can I get this out?" He pointed at his face with his hand on still on the bed.

"Soon, as soon as the surgeon sees that your stomach is healed enough for you to handle soft foods." She recorded some numbers on her computer.

"As soon as you can eat, I promise I'll bring in some of my Daddy's tomato and mushroom soup you love so much." Rachel promised.

The nurse looked back at Kurt and adjusted something on one of his machines before taking a step back and blowing out a low whistle. "I'm going to adjust one of your painkillers, so it's going to make you a little drowsy. You have quite the cocktail of drugs going into you, Kurt."

A corner of Kurt's mouth twitched up as his eyes drifted shut. "Well, at least I'm not going to get… drunk and… kiss… Rachel…" He slurred as he slowly fell into a slumber.

The nurse looked quite confused as Mercedes and Rachel tried their hardest not to crack up on the spot.

* * *

**I'm so incredibly sorry for such the long delay. I've had a lot going on between now and the last chapter. Again, I'm so, so, **_**so**_** sorry. I've actually moved to California and it's taken a whole freaking month to find my laptop so in the meanwhile, I've actually handwritten a few chapters out. Now it's just a matter of typing them up and editing them that's taken awhile. Also, I don't have internet in my new house yet so I have to go out to my local library to upload the chapters. -.- Can you tell how excited I am? ****The next chapter will be released whenever the next time I can get to the library but it is ALREADY WRITTEN.**

**Anyway, season three of Glee, woo-hoo! Oh, if you don't want to read my thoughts on this season right now, just skip ahead to the next chapter (if I posted it already) if you don't want to read this. **

**The First Time was so perfect. I loved One Hand, One Heart and Uptown Girl. Go Warblers! Does anybody have a crow bar and flamethrower? I want to **_**kill**_** Sebastian Smythe.**

**I absolutely love Blaine even more than I thought I did. Oh, and who called Glee doing Perfect on the show? I've been listening to that song nearly every day since it came out. **

**Extraordinary Merry Christmas. Freaking. AWESOME. That song has made itself into my most favorite song, ever. Darren's voice with Lea's actually sounds… extraordinary.**

**Let It Snow. It's so jazzy! I love it!**

**Thank you guys for hanging in here with me, and I absolutely promise in my heart of hearts that I WILL finish this story. I have another one I'm working on, but this one takes first priority and then I'll publish the next one.**

**Unless you guys want me to go on my ranting again, please ****REVIEW!**** Thank you guys so much and HAPPY HOLLIDAYS!**


	21. Just The Way You Are II

_Tuesday, six in the evening_

"Thank God that thing's out." Kurt said uncomfortably as the tube was pulled out of his nose. It was one of the most horrible things, he thought, to have been put in through the nose. He wrinkled his nose to try and get rid of the feeling but then winced, feeling a stab of pain from his still healing cartilage in his nose.

"I bet you're ready to have actual food again. Eh, Kurt?" The blond nurse, whose name was Megan as Kurt discovered, asked him.

He coughed out a laugh, sipping water from a cup. "No, it was the greatest thing in the world to have my food predigested and shoved up my nose." He said in deadpan voice as she laughed.

"I'll tell the kitchen to start sending up soft foods for you after I'm done here. Now, it's time to clean the stitches on your face. Lie back down." Megan told him as she snapped on a fresh pair of gloves.

Rachel had finally acquiesced and brought in a small hand mirror for Kurt. He looked at his reflection again now that the stupid feeding tube was out and had undergone the daily cleaning to keep the stitches from developing infections. The gash on his forehead had healed quite nicely; it left the faintest of scars and then it was only noticeable if there was a super bright light shining on it. Lightly trailing his fingers on the clear stitches, Kurt noticed that the cut on his left cheek wasn't going to leave a scar either. The small cuts on his chin and along his jaw weren't going to leave scars as they were small and most of them were superficial enough that they didn't need that many stitches. All in all, Kurt Hummel got pretty lucky.

He put down the mirror on his rolling and settled back into his pillows. It had been a few days since everyone had had to go back to school, the New Directions back to McKinley and the Warblers back to Dalton. Lauren had to go back to her school, too. She spent the last few days with Mari's mom, Blaine, and Joey. She had promised her brothers she would return for their mother's funeral and burial.

The autopsy was still being conducted on Miranda Anderson, as the news stations reported but the preliminary reports said that she had been beaten to death with a blunt object. Joey had thrown up when he heard it, and Kurt didn't doubt Blaine probably did too. There had been no sightings of the black SUV Matthew Anderson had used to kidnap the four of them and therefore, no sighting of the man either. This had Kurt worried; even though they had police officers with them at all times, he could help but fear that the man could come in at anytime and finish what he had started.

Kurt reached into the pocket of his pajama pants and pulled out a small silver object. Luckily, when the surgeon came back yesterday he deemed Kurt well enough to wear his own clothes rather than the disgusting hospital gown he had been forced to wear the whole time he had been in the hospital. Kurt could have kissed the man; it also meant he could shower, with help. Carole took her lunch breaks with him every day she could also help him with other tasks, such as his newfound hatred for physical therapy.

One day, Carole gave him the small silver object he was now holding gingerly in his hand. She had snuck it out of the pocket of Blaine's blazer when she was collecting their clothes for evidence for the police. Turning it his hand, Kurt pressed a small knob at the top. It sprung open and revealed a simple, but elegant, clock face. Kurt smiled as he realized what it was but at the same time, he thought of Blaine. The last he had seen him was when he woken up in the ICU to his singing.

A knock at the door brought his attention to the door frame. Carole smiled radiantly as she and Megan came in the door.

"Hi, sweetie." Carole said as she sat down on the side of the bed and hugged Kurt when he slowly sat up.

"Hi… Mom." He said quietly into her short, auburn hair.

They pulled back as Megan rolled in a wheelchair. Carole started grinning wider, if that was possible. "Guess what?" She said excitedly.

"Santa Claus is actually from South Africa?"

The two nurses laughed. "No. One better, actually. You want to go see Blaine?" She jerked of her head towards the wheelchair.

He stared at her. "You're serious, right? You're not going to pull a Sunshine on me?"

"Sunshine?"

Kurt sighed, rolling his eyes at the memory. "At the beginning of the year, Rachel sent this exchange girl with a hell of a voice to a crack house thinking she was going to audition for New Directions. After she actually did audition for New Directions, she switched schools and is now in Vocal Adrenaline."

Now Carole stared at Kurt with an eyebrow cocked up. "Rachel did that?"

Kurt nodded. "Didn't Finn tell you?"

She shook her head. "No… not that I can remember. But anyway," she went back to smiling while Megan unhooked him from his IV pole. Since he had gotten the feeding tube removed, he didn't need to have so many machines attached to him and not as many IV bags dripping into him. "Yes, you can see Blaine! We just have to get you in this contraption you call a rolling death trap."

Kurt huffed. "Well, tell Finn he isn't allowed to roll me anywhere. After that ridiculous assignment Mr. Shue gave us last year…" He grumbled as he remembered Finn falling backwards nearly every ten seconds or crashing into him as he raced Puck in the hallway after school.

"Do I want to know?"

"No."

His step-mom rolled her eyes. "Okay let's get you in this thing."

Kurt put Blaine's pocket watch in his pocket and flipped the blanket off of his legs, wincing at the sight of his bright orange leg cast.

It took a little time to get him in the chair; all three of them were trying to navigate his leg onto the raised leg rest with causing him too much pain. In the end, it took a pillow, a few choice swears with Carole looking at him sternly every time he swore, and a towel. Carole rolled Kurt backwards out of his room and, still going backwards, rolled into Blaine and Mari's room.

Blaine was asleep, exhausted from his physical therapy session that morning in his room. Mari was sitting up and doing homework her mom had brought for her from school. She looked up as Carole walked backwards, dragging something in front of her. Her face lit up as she saw Kurt and was about to say hello until he, Carole, and a nurse held a finger up to their lips. Mari shut her mouth and smiled, figuring out that Kurt was going to surprise Blaine.

Kurt mouthed to her _He's just asleep, right?_ as Carole and the nurse left the room.

She nodded and mouthed back _He had PT at four._

He rolled his eyes. _ Figures._

Mairead watched he slipped his hand into Blaine's and took a small trinket out of the pocket of his pants.

Kurt looked at Blaine for a moment. Sure, he had bags under his eyes, a feeding tube up his nose, and various other aspects, but he was the most handsome person he'd ever laid eyes on. He slipped his hand into his and watched as Blaine snuffled a little bit, his eyebrows knitting up as if he was having a bad dream.

A tune popped into Kurt's head and he smiled, just having thought of the perfect way to wake him up.

* * *

"_Really, Blaine. I would have thought you would last longer than this." A brunette boy said, cracking his knuckles._

_Blaine looked up from where he was on the ground, coughing from the force of the punch he just received to the stomach. "And I never thought you would stoop this low; oh, wait, yes I did." Blaine remarked._

_Another kick to his back had Blaine sprawled on his stomach and a mouthful of grass in his face. Blaine tried to get up, using his knees and hands, but a foot pushed him back into the ground. "Why are you doing this?" He said as best as he could, the foot also pushing the air out of his lungs._

"_You know why, homo." A voice sounded from behind him. "'Cause you're a sick freak. And I think the whole world would be better without pedophiles like you."_

_Blaine laughed mirthlessly in spite of his pain. "If I'm a pedophile, then what the hell are you? God's pet poodle?" He tried to push back against the foot, but his arms already hurt too much from trying to punch the boxing bag in gym class this morning. _

_The foot came off of his back but before he could try to get away, he was being dragged to feet by his hair. Blaine yelled as he felt his scalp protesting. He came face to face with one of his attackers._

"_I knew it." Blaine muttered under his breath._

_The boy holding him by his hair punched him in the stomach. "What was that, fag?" He whispered threateningly in Blaine's ear._

"_Wouldn't you like to know." He coughed out._

_Pushing Blaine into his friend, who immediately pinned his arms to his sides, he cracked his fingers again. Blaine suddenly dreaded what he thought might be coming his way as he tried to fight his way out._

_He felt intense pain blooming in his body, being kicked in the crotch. "How'd you like that, fag? You want some more? Gladly." Blaine felt the force of being kicked into his stomach again. _

_Suddenly, he was on the ground as for some reason he was released from the other boy's arms. He stood up dizzily and tried to run away but he was surrounded by the fence and the two boys in front of him. Holding his fists up in front of him, Blaine tried to look threatening. "So you decided to come back and beat me up some more, didn't you? Just because I like boys?" Blaine shouted at Tyler, the boy who'd been beating him up. "I'm right here, go ahead and fight me!"_

_Blaine braced himself as the hulking figure came towards him, grinning manically. For some reason, he could hear a tune in his ears. The song quite familiar._

Wait,_ Blaine thought as Tyler came closer and closer._ This… isn't… supposed to be here.

_Tyler raised his fist and Blaine closed his eyes. The voice was still sounding through his brain, as if he had heard it a thousand times. Blaine felt the first punch to his face as everything went black. But for some reason, the song was still ringing in his ears._

_Blaine floated, just listening and trying to figure out where this was coming from. _Why does this sound familiar? There wasn't anyone singing when Tyler beat me up…_ Blaine thought as he floated upwards. _Wait… is that…?

Blaine slowly woke up but kept his eyes closed, listening to someone singing by him. He felt a warm hand in his own cold one. The tune sounded a little different as he tried to clear the haze in his brain.

_Oh, his eyes, his eyes make the stars look like they're not shining_

_His hair, his hair curls perfectly without him trying_

_He's so wonderful and I tell him every day_

Listening to the music, he tried to figure out who it was.

_Yeah, I know, I know, when I compliment him, he won't believe me_

_It's so, it's so, sad to think he don't see what I see_

_But every time he asks me "Do I look okay?"_

_I say_

_When I see your face, there's not a thing that I would change_

'_cause you're amazing, just the way you are_

_And when you smile, the whole world stops and stares for awhile_

'_cause Blaine, you're amazing, just the way you are_

His breath caught in his throat as he finally realized who was singing to him.

_His lips, his lips, I could kiss them all day if he'd let me_

_His height, his height, he hates but I think it's so sexy_

_He's so wonderful, and I tell him everyday_

Blaine's eyelids slowly started to open up, the blurry outline of someone sitting next to him in front of him.

_Oh, you know, you know, you know I'd never ask you to change_

_If perfect's what you're searching for then just stay the same _

_So don't even bother asking if you look okay_

_You know I'll say_

He blinked a few times and Kurt singing softly to his hand came into clear focus.

_When I see your face, there's not a thing that I would change_

'_cause you're amazing, just the way you are_

_And when you smile, the whole world stops and stares for awhile_

'_cause Blaine, you're amazing, just the way you are_

"K-Kurt." Blaine croaked out, his throat dry.

Kurt snapped his face up and his eyes widened. "Blaine." He breathed out.

Blaine slowly brought their hands, still entwined with Kurt's, up to his mouth and kissed the back of his hand gently. "I," Blaine coughed out, trying to clear his throat of the tickling feeling in the back of his mouth. "I love you." He whispered, his voice cracking with emotion.

Bringing both of their hands towards him, Kurt brought it up and cradled them against his chest. "I know." Kurt smiled, tears coming down his face.

Blaine moved their hands towards Kurt's heart, hoping to feel that beautiful rhythm.

Kurt winced slightly and brought the hands down to the bed. He lifted his other hand and held it out to Blaine.

Blaine tried to blink away the tears in his eyes at the little silver object.

"Carole found it in your blazer. She brought it to me to give to you. I know how much you love this." Kurt said softly.

The little silver pocket watch was still in mint condition. Blaine clicked open the small clasp. He smiled as the little hands showed the correct time.

"Thank you, Kurt." He choked out.

They both sat like that for a little bit, just enjoying the other's presence. Blaine dozed as Kurt rubbed circles into the back of his hand with his thumb. Mairead had put in her ear buds and listened to her iTouch while reading her history textbook, which her mom brought in for her.

Time slowly passed, but the two boys didn't care. Kurt watched the cheesy soap operas on the TV and talked with Mairead quietly.

Carole poked her head into the room and saw her step-son struggling to keep his eyes open as his boyfriend slept. She put her hands around his shoulders and watched as he slowly turned his head and looked at her with half-lidded eyes. "C'mon, let's get you back to your room, okay? It's already time for you to be hooked back in. And I brought some food for you." She told him quietly.

Kurt looked at her with pleading eyes, begging her to let him stay with Blaine.

She shook her head. "I promise, tomorrow."

He sighed, bringing their still entwined hands up to his lips. Blaine woke up slightly and tightened his hand around Kurt. "Hey, I have to go. I love you, Blaine. I promise I'll be back tomorrow."

Blaine hummed and turned his head the other way on his pillow; going back to sleep with a smile on his face.

* * *

Carole wheeled Kurt back into his room. Getting him up on the bed was a bit easier than going down, in her opinion.

"I don't know why I'm so tired all the time." Kurt yawned as Carole covered his legs with the blanket. "All I've been doing is sleeping and doing that damn physical therapy."

She chuckled. "Well, your body does need to heal, sweetie. Here, I brought you some homemade vegetable broth." Carole took the cover off of a Tupperware container she brought with her.

Kurt dipped his spoon in and took a sip. "This is really good." He sighed in delight, using his taste buds for the first time in awhile. "Who made it?"

"You're either going to be surprised or worried if I tell you." Carole said mysteriously, a little smile appearing.

Kurt twitched an eyebrow up.

"Finn."

Kurt spluttered, having took a spoonful of the broth. Carole smirked as she gently patted his back as he regained his breath.

"How?" He said a little weakly as he sipped water through a straw in his cup. "He can't even cook premade soup in a pot without the smoke detectors going off!"

Carole rolled her eyes. "Well, it was sort of Finn's cooking. Rachel brought over the recipe from her dads and she cooked it while he chopped the vegetables."

He snorted into the container as he finished the broth, enjoying its surprisingly delicious contents. As he did so, Carole disinfected her hands and snapped on a pair of sterile gloves. She hooked him back into his IV bags.

Joey walked using his crutches in looking a little worse for wear. His eyes were red and he was sniffling but gave the two of them a happy, if tired, smile.

Dropping the spoon into the plastic container, Kurt exhaled a happy sigh. He got to see Blaine today and finally felt full in his stomach. His eyes started to drift slowly down as the drugs and the warmness of the broth lulled him to sleep.

Carole disposed her gloves and sat down on the side of his bed. She pulled the covers over him and up to his shoulders. "Kurt, I have to go. But I'll be back tomorrow, okay?"

Kurt smiled as he grunted, letting the drugs drag him back to sleep.

She brushed the hair off of his forehead as she whispered "I love you, sweetie." Carole turned off the light behind his bed and pulled forward the curtain that divided the room in half.

Joey was in a similar state, fast asleep but with a hand hanging off the side of his bed. She smiled and pulled the blankets over him. Quietly putting on a fresh pair of gloves, she also hooked him back into his IV pole. Joey moved a little and that was when Carole noticed he had something gold colored clutched in his hand. She turned off the light behind his bed.

Walking into the room across the hall, she discovered Blaine was exactly how she and Kurt left him. She quickly checked his monitors, making sure everything was in order before walking over to Mairead's side off the room.

Mairead was still up, reading a book while still listening to her iTouch. She looked up as Carole pulled the curtain to make Blaine's side darker so he could sleep. "Hi Carole." Mairead smiled.

"Hi honey." She smiled back. "What are you reading?"

"Just a little fantasy book. Lauren always makes fun of me every time I read this, though." She held up the cover with her free hand, the other in a black sling.

Carole looked at the two hands cradling a red apple over a black background. "Is it good?"

Mairead laughed softly. "To me it is. To her, she thinks I'm just a big sap for these books." Her face grew somber. "Carole, that was Joey crying, wasn't it? I could hear him as he went into his room."

She nodded grimly, remembering how he came in.

Mairead looked down at her braced and bandaged wrists, her book laid abandoned for the moment in her hand. "It's my turn tomorrow isn't it? To talk to the detectives?" She asked quietly.

Carole sighed. "Yes, honey, it is. It's all three of you guys tomorrow. They won't wait any long now that you guys are mostly off the more heavy painkillers. They need the evidence. Your dad's lawyers are going to be there too. Trust me; they fought for as long as they could, to let you four have enough time to recover."

Looking back up, she had tears in her eyes. "I'm not afraid, but I'm… scared. What if they don't believe me?" She asked, her voice wavering.

The older woman's eyebrows knitted together as she brought a hand up to tuck a strand of black hair behind the younger girl's ear. "Why wouldn't they believe you? Mairead, you've been through as much as these boys have, if not more." She asked in disbelief and worry.

"It's just…" she hesitated. "People have never believed what I've said in the past. I'm scared what I say isn't going to be viable evidence for when they catch the damn son of a bitch."

Carole looked a little sadly at her. "Come here."

Mairead scooted forward to the end of her bed as she leaned into Carole's open arms.

"Mairead, sweetheart, you're thinking too hard about this. You're going to talk to them tomorrow and they _are_ going to believe you. I know they will." She said as she rubbed her arm soothingly.

"But what if?" Mari whispered, close to tears.

"No, there's no 'what ifs' here. You're going to tell them and they'll use it as evidence. You're strong, Mairead. Don't be afraid." Carole said, feeling remorse for her.

A few tears slipped out of her closed eyes. She sniffled, not helping the feelings that overcame her. She leaned even more into her arms, savoring the welcome feeling of her arms around her. Ten minutes passed before she looked back up at the woman hugging her.

Carole smiled warmly. "Feel better?"

She gave a tiny smile. "A little. I just can't help feeling like this all the time."

"As you should. It's normal for anyone to feel like that, not just you. Okay?" Carole told her gently.

Mairead nodded. A yawn stretched her face as Carole laughed gently.

"Why don't you get some sleep? It's going to be a long day tomorrow." She turned to shut the light off.

She shook her head. "I think I'm going to read a little more before I sleep."

"Okay." Carole helped her scoot backwards into the pillows.

"Carole?" She asked timidly. "Can you… can you stay with me tomorrow when I talk to them? I mean, if it's not too much trouble and I know I have my mom and Julia's going to be in there too but she's asking the questions; I know you have work and all." Mairead shut her mouth before she could ramble on any further.

Carole thought for a moment, thinking of what time she needed to be at work in the ED. "I'll see if I can. But just remember, they're not there to accuse you. Relax, and just tell them. Okay?"

Mairead sighed as she nodded.

"Good. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Carole said.

The Vietnamese girl nodded again as she hugged Carole. She watched as she walked out of the room before putting her ear buds back in and pressing her iTouch back on. Flicking her finger up on the device, she selected a playlist of her orchestra performances; letting the sounds wash over her as she read and eventually fell asleep.

* * *

**Sorry for the somewhat long wait. Like I said, I had to get to the library to upload this. I hope you all have a fantastic and an extraordinary very merry Christmas and happy Hanukkah!**

**12-22-11**


	22. Chapter 22

_Wednesday, one in the afternoon_

"I really don't want to do this." Mari muttered as she played around with the hem of her dark blue button-up shirt.

Blaine grimaced, the pain in his wrist and stomach bothering him every time he moved. "I know. I don't think any of us want to.

The four of them were in a small room off of the side of the hospital's press room. Burt and Sarah bought the four of them clothes that were nicer than the ones they had been wearing for the past two weeks.

Joey was standing up using one crutch and sliding his hand along the wall, practicing walking with his new walking boot. Kurt was up on his two crutches and texting. He wore one of his "plainer" outfits, a pale purple short sleeve button up with his favorite purple and silver edged tie; along with a pair of his black jeans, which he rolled up one pant so that his brace wouldn't get in the way. Burt ignored his earlier remarks about his looking like a mismatched color blind six-year-old. Blaine wore a simple black polo and a pair of blue Dalton sweatpants which, coincidently, look very much like Kurt's; the pant length was a little longer than his own.

Both Mari and Blaine were in wheelchairs, their shoulders and wrists couldn't handle the pressure on the crutches yet. Blaine winced as he reached forward and pulled the pant of his right leg towards his toes, hoping to cover as much as possible of the big orange cast. He leaned back and sighed, rubbing his left wrist. The black brace he had on was getting itchy.

The door opened and in came the four SWAT agents in their dress uniforms. All four of them smiled as they took in the sight of the teenagers. "You guys ready to go?" Jim asked.

"No, I need my hair spray." Kurt said grumpily as he put his iPhone in his pocket.

"I'll take that as a yes." Jim chuckled.

Tyler handed Blaine a pair of dark sunglasses as Julia did the same with Mari. The two of them had been having migraines the past two days and didn't want to risk anything with the camera lights flashing in their faces; but for some reason, Kurt didn't have any despite his concussion.

"So here's what's going to happen." Julia started. "You guys are going to go in first and we'll follow. Blaine and Mari, Tyler and I'll push you guys. Joey and Kurt, you guys are going to lay your crutches behind you with Jim and Aaron's help. If you guys are getting too stressed at the question being asked, it's perfectly fine to say 'No comment'. Doctors Piker, Moore, Mohammed, and Berrent are also going to be at the table. They're just there to explain your injuries and recovery. You don't have to say anything about them if you don't want to." She paused and looked towards the Anderson brothers. "Blaine, Joey. They're going to ask about your dad. For right now, just say no comment. I'll explain about the Strykas and Hummels having temporary custody of you two and Lauren." The two boys nodded somberly.

"Do you guys have any questions?" Tyler asked as he straightened his black tie.

"How long is this going to last?" Joey asked quietly.

"We're going to try to limit the whole conference to an hour. It might go on longer, but we'll try for an hour." Jim answered.

"Who's sitting where? Or does it not matter?" Mairead asked.

"You guys can sit however you want, but it would be better if we had Blaine and Mari on the end so that way they won't run you two over with the wheel chairs." Aaron told them, checking his watch.

A knock on the door sounded and then opened up; Dr. Piker nodded to the group. Everyone came out to flashing light bulbs and the sound of reporters clamoring for spots up closest to the long table. Joey and Kurt came out first after the doctors and then it was Blaine and Mairead being wheeled in by Tyler and Julia. Both Blaine and Mari closed their eyes under the sunglasses as soon as they saw the first flash of light directed towards them.

The doctors introduced themselves and went straight to describing what condition they were all in. All of the SWAT agents went next, explaining the circumstances and answering question such as who would get custody of the two boys, the incoming results of the autopsy on Miranda Anderson, funeral arrangements, leads on Matthew Anderson's whereabouts, etc. The whole time Kurt held Blaine's hand under the table, knowing how much it would bother him. It was mostly Mairead and Joey who answered the questions for the four of them about their thoughts on the whole situation, what they were doing in regards for school, and such.

"This is question is for Blaine, specifically." A female reporter said bluntly when it was her turn.

Blaine froze in his seat, his breath caught in his throat. Next to him, Mairead casually slipped her arms off of the table and under the white table cloth to hold his braced left hand. He clutched both Kurt and Mari's hands as he slowly looked up and hesitantly opened his eyes under his black sunglasses, surprised there weren't any more flashes of light.

"What do you want to say to your father, if he's watching this right now?" The reporter asked, her pen poised over the notepad.

Kurt opened his mouth to answer for him, but Blaine squeezed his hand before anything came out.

"I want to tell him," he began quietly, leaning forward a little bit into the microphone. "Go. To. Hell. And I never want to see you for as long as I live."

"And I would also like to add," Kurt said, "You are the biggest coward to live on the face of the earth. Seriously, go to hell already."

Everyone in the room tried to suppress smiles and laughs as Kurt leaned back in his chair, rubbing circles into the back of Blaine's hand. The conference ended and they were led back into the room they had been waiting in before the whole thing started. Inside the room were Burt, Jason, and, surprisingly, Rachel and her dads.

"What are you doing here? I thought I told you not to come back until school was over!" Kurt exclaimed as his crutches clicked every time he hopped.

"We have a little surprise for the four of you." Tyler said as all the SWAT member came in and firmly shut the door behind them. "You know that we told you that you were going to be in here for another two weeks in the press conference but…" He looked and smiled at the adults who were taking keys out of their pockets. "Since Sarah and Carole are licensed doctor and nurse, the doctors agreed to discharge you early. This is a security measure, just in case Matthew decides to walk in and look for you; you four will far from here."

"Now," Jim took over. "Because we know that your houses are 'marked', so to say, on the news stations radars, you guys are actually going to a house no one will ever suspect that you guys are going to be staying in."

Rachel was bursting at the seams. "You're all going to my house!"

The four of them looked at her, surprised.

"Rachel," Kurt said, an eyebrow cocked up. "Can you even fit all of us in your house?"

"It's not going to be a problem." Leroy Berry said in a surprisingly musical voice. "We have two spare guest bedrooms and the basement you guys can res t in."

"And we've installed security cameras around the house so you guys are going to be safe." Rachel's African-American dad, Hiram, answered.

"Well, that's… good." Mari said, still a little shocked.

"But don't we still need the IVs? I thought we had to be on antibiotics for the rest of the two weeks and then still after?" Joey asked, bemused.

"Sarah and Carole have it all figured out. They'll bring in whatever drugs you guys need and give it to you at the house. That's why they're not here right now; they're busy setting up the necessary supplies at home." Hiram said. "And one of them will be with you guys at all times, just in case."

"And I'll drive you guys back here when it's time for your physical therapy." Burt smiled as all of them groaned just at the mention of physical therapy.

The five teenagers talked while everyone else figured out how to get them to Rachel's house. The SWAT team would be taking turns staying at Berry household in case Matthew did find out they were all staying there but they would only be taking turns for the two weeks in which the local police department would take over and make quite routine patrols on their street.

Blaine was silent the whole time, deep in thought. He had taken off his sunglasses and slipped on his regular glasses. Kurt held his hand the entire time, squeezing it gently when he saw that he was close to tears.

"Hey, this is good." Kurt said softly as he sat down in a chair next to him, his black air cast getting in the way. "This means we're getting out of here."

Blaine shuddered. "That means he might get to us." He said so only Kurt could hear.

"It's okay, we're going to be okay. The police are going to catch that bastard. I'm surprised they haven't put his picture on the front page of the newspaper everyday yet." Kurt said.

Blaine looked down and gave him a small smile.

Kurt smiled back and reached a hand up to cup Blaine's cheek. He could feel the places that Blaine missed while shaving clumsily that morning.

He leaned into his hand, closing his eyes. Blaine leaned sideways, twisting hoping his side wouldn't hurt in response to the movement.

Kurt twisted similarly and they kissed for the first time in what felt like months. He welcomed the touch of Blaine's soft lips, reacquainting himself with the feel.

"Ahem."

The both jumped apart in their chairs, wincing at the pain in their stomach. Jason looked at them, trying unsuccessfully to hide his smile.

"Sorry, Mr. Stryka." Kurt mumbled. Blaine blushed and looked down at his hands.

Jason rolled his eyes. "It's fine, boys. And Kurt, for the last time, call me Jason!" He said exasperated at the title. "It makes me feel old when you call me that."

Kurt stood up using his crutches as Burt walked behind Blaine, having finished signing the paperwork with Jason.

The door opened and in came Sarah and Carole with two wheelchairs. Carole smirked as she looked pointedly down at the chair in her hands.

"You've got to be kidding me." Kurt and Joey said, flatly, at the same time.

"C'mon, Joey. You know the hospital protocols." Sarah said with a laugh.

Carole folded her arms, waiting for Kurt. "I promise Finn is out in the car and he's not coming anywhere close to you while in this."

"Until we get home." Kurt grumbled as he reluctantly sat in the chair, giving his crutches to Rachel.

"Okay, here's what going to happen." Julia pulled everyone's attention to her voice. "We're going to head out using the back door of the hospital, where they usually have their deliveries dropped off. Kurt, you're going with your parents; same with you Mairead. Joey's going with the Berry family and Blaine, you're coming with us in the SWAT van."

"That's not inconspicuous at all." Blaine said, rolling his eyes.

Everyone chuckled as they helped the four of them into light jackets. Rachel was already wearing hers and holding two pairs of crutches in her arms.

The four of them and everyone else followed a hospital representative in to several deserted hallways and out to the vehicles waiting. It took both Burt, Jason, and two SWAT members to help Kurt and Blaine into the car and the undercover black van; considering their stomachs and Blaine's casted leg and his weakened wrist.

Seeing all the news trucks parked around the hospital and reporters talking to their cameras at the front entrance, they had to wait for a little bit for the trucks to clear before they could head out to the highway. There were two undercover police cars with them, one in front and one in back for additional security.

Blaine fell asleep in the black van, looking out the black tinted windows got boring after the first five minutes. It seemed only two minutes when he last closed his eyes to when someone was shaking his shoulder. "What?" He grumbled, swinging an arm over his eyes.

"We're here." A gruff voice said. Blaine opened his eyes to see Burt in front of him. He lifted his head and squinted through his glasses at the bright light coming through the opened van doors. Both Burt and Tyler were in the van, the latter just coming through the other side of the vehicle. In the end, the three of the decided it was easier just for Tyler to carry Blaine into the house instead of getting him in the wheelchair; Aaron doing the same for Mari.

Hiram held the door open for everyone, watching as Kurt and Joey hobbled in on crutches and then Blaine and Mari in the SWAT members' arms. Rachel showed Joey to a room on the main level, Mairead to the basement, and then, to Burt's dismay, Kurt and Blaine in another room upstairs right next to her own.

Kurt sat on the edge of the dark blue sheeted mattress and took off his tie as his boyfriend was gently set down beside him. He propped his crutches against the wall and scooted carefully on his butt until he was about the same place on the bed as Blaine and laid down, pulling the blanket over the two of them.

Burt came in the room and sat on the end of the bed by their feet. "Ground rules guys." He said simply.

The two boys looked up and groaned, wanting to go to sleep. Not quite sitting up, they both looked at him.

He folded his arms. "I'm okay with you guys sharing a room and a bed and, like Finn, you keep the door open when you're both in the room; and no blasting rock music. That sound okay?" Burt said, cocking an eyebrow.

They both nodded wearily, not really caring about them as he patted their feet and walked to the doorway. Burt watched as his son lay back down on his side of the bed.

Kurt dropped his head on Blaine's shoulder, rolled halfway on his side so he was resting on his right arm, and mumbled something. Blaine uttered something back and soon, they were both asleep next to each other.

Burt smiled as he walked back in the room and tucked the blanket around the two of them. He closed the emerald green curtains to block out the setting sun and quietly bumped the back of the door to the wall before walking out.

* * *

_Five in the evening_

Joey had joined Mairead in the basement, both of them hooked up to their IV bags as they played, taking turns, on the Xbox Nick brought from home.

"You know you're not old enough to be playing this game, right?" Mari said as she watched him stab a guard through the throat with Ezio's hidden blade.

"But it's Assassin's Creed! It's a historical game. I'm still educating myself when I'm still playing." He said absentmindedly as he executed a pretty nice kill streak.

She rolled her eyes, and looked out the window at the setting orange sun. Mairead leaned her head into the back of the black faux leather sofa; it really was comfy with its overstuffed cushions.

"Hey guys," Sarah called as she walked towards them. "Dinner time and then meds before you guys. Yes, you two have to drink the protein shakes." She said as they groaned. Sarah unhooked them and cleaned out their IV ports before walking up with them, helping Mari slowly walk up the stairs.

"Do I have to eat something? I'm not that hungry." She said quietly to her mom, as Joey hopped up the stairs on his crutches.

Sarah looked at her daughter. "Yes, you do. And all of the protein shake, Mairead." She said firmly but gently.

"But Mom, really, I'm not that hungry." She protested, placing her braced right foot on the first stair.

"No, you're eating _something._ You're still healing and you know as well as I do as to what happens when you don't get enough nutrients in your body."

"But Mom-"

"You are eating. End of story." Sarah snapped.

Mairead fell silent immediately, feeling ashamed and mad.

Sarah took a deep breath. "Sweetie, look at me."

Shaking her head, she tried to hold in her tears.

"Mairead."

She finally looked up, a tear rolling down her face. "I'm scared, Mom. I really don't want to eat anything." She whispered brokenly.

They had reached the hallway outside the kitchen and the connecting dining room. Mairead could smell the herb and buttered roasted chicken, or the equally seasoned tofu for Rachel and Kurt, and the aromatic garlic mashed potatoes through the closed door; her anxiety level grew like the beanstalk in the folk tale. Her traitorous stomach rumbled and she reached an arm around it to try and muffle the sound. Sarah stopped her before she could though.

"Mom, please. I honestly can't." More tears rolled down her face as her anxiety kept growing. "I'm going to get so fat. That smell, it's… poison. Please. Don't make me eat that." She pleaded, not realizing what she was saying. Her anxiety was speaking for her without her consent.

"I'm already ugly enough, the way I look. If I eat that, I'm going look even worse. Soon, no one's ever going to _want _to look at me. Not even a dog's going to look at me. Please, Mom, it's going to make me so _fat_!" Mairead shouted the last word, sobbing.

They both froze as someone opened the door and stepped though the doorway.

Rachel took in Mairead's red face with tear streaks and Sarah's hand holding Mairead's braced arm. "Are you guys okay out here? Dinner's ready." She asked softly.

Mairead turned the other way, showing her back to Rachel while crying silently. She couldn't bear to look at the pretty brunette girl and her perfect figure.

Sarah nodded swiftly. "We'll be fine. Go tell everyone else to eat, Mari and I will eat a little bit later."

Rachel nodded and with a last a look at Mari's bowed head and turned back as she walked back into the dining room; the breeze of the door closing wafting the odor of the food towards the mother and adopted daughter.

As soon as she heard the door click closed, Mairead threw herself in her mother's arms. "I'm sorry, Mom. I'm so sorry." She sobbed, not bothering to be quiet.

"Shh, it's okay. It's okay." Sarah shushed her, stroking her hair. She slowly guided them to Joey's bedroom with Mairead's arms around her mom; not caring that her shoulder was protesting with excruciating pain. Sitting her on the bed, she shut the door and locked it. Once Sarah sat down on the bed besides her, Mairead sobbed loudly into her mother's shirt.

The two of them sat there, the daughter crying out her stresses to her mother. Sarah made sure that she didn't hurt herself she started kick the side of the bottom of the bed with her braced leg. It made her heart hurt so much to see her daughter hurting so badly.

It wasn't until half an hour later until she started to calm down, silent tears now slowly coming down her face. Mairead sniffled a few times, feeling her mom's arms around her.

"Feel better?" Sarah asked quietly, tightening her arms minutely.

Mairead shrugged as she wiped her nose on her sweatshirt sleeve. Her stomach growled with the pang of hunger again.

"Mairead Chau Styka. You listen to me right now." She said firmly to her. "I didn't adopt an ugly, fat girl from Vietnam nearly seven years ago. I adopted a beautiful, amazing young woman of whom I'm proud to point out in a crowd and call her my daughter. Your father and I could never ask for anything more than what you are. You are beautiful, both inside and out. Screw whatever the world says, you are the one of the greatest things that could have happened to your father and I. We couldn't ask for anything else, even if we were offered the chance to rule the world, we would _never_ ask for anything other than you."

"But I'm broken; I'm damaged, I'm stupid, I'm ugly, I'm fat, I'm-" She started, a new wave of tears threatening to spill over.

"No, you're not. Mairead, I love you. And it hurts me to see you say all of these attributes about you that are simply not true." Sarah said. "Your father and I couldn't be more proud of you no matter what you did, do, look, or whatever else. We love you. Nick loves you. Blaine loves you."

Mairead chuckled softly, despite her tears. "But Blaine's gay."

Sarah laughed. "So he is. Do you want me to bring him in here and ask?" She started to tickle her side.

"No, Mom, no!" She laughed a little breathlessly. Mairead wiped her face on her sleeves as Sarah kissed her forehead.

"Okay, I won't." Sarah said, smiling at her laughing face. "Feel better?" She asked.

Mairead shrugged, her face growing dark again. "A little."

"C'mon, let's go down and eat, hmm?" Sarah asked cautiously.

Her hands gripped her mom's arm quite hard. "Please, Mom?"

Sarah thought for a minute, thinking. "Here, why don't we wait until most everyone finished eating. We'll share a plate, okay? And then we'll see what happens afterwards. Instead of the protein shake, I'll make you a small milkshake. But then you need the shake tomorrow morning. Sound good to you?"

Mairead sniffled and wiped her nose on her sleeves, again. "I guess."

Sarah hugged her close to her body and kissed her on the forehead again. "I love you."

She gave a tiny smile. "I love you too, Mom."

The two of them stayed like that, Mairead leaning her head into the crook of Sarah's neck and shoulder while she rubbed her back soothingly.

Mairead was dozing lightly, exhausted from fighting back against her own body. Sarah woke her before going out of the room to check the population of the dining room. She dragged herself to her feet using the wall and her left hand and walked to the window seeing that there wasn't a mirror in the room. Forcing herself to look just at her eyes, cheek, and nose in the reflection, Mari saw the redness going down and her skin returning to its normal color tone. She took a deep breath, calming down again before her anxiety spiked up when she would have to go the dining room with her mom.

"Honey," Sarah inquired softly, coming in the door. Mari could faintly smell the food drifting in. "It's only Blaine and Carole in the dining room. I already made us a plate. Okay?"

Mari nodded slowly as she sat back down on the mattress, waiting for Sarah to bring over one of her two crutches she was using; her other shoulder couldn't stand the pressure of the crutches. She slipped her arm over the gray arm cushion and put her other arm around her mom's neck. The two walked out slowly to the dining room.

Blaine and Carole were laughing at a story about Finn when he was younger and got into a sack of flour. He was eating a bowl of the mashed potatoes with a smaller bowl of vegetable broth on the side. Giving her a smile, he looked considerably happier than he was in the hospital.

She gave him a watery smile in return, sitting across from them at the big polished wooden table. Mari barely listened as she waited nervously for her mom to return with the plate of food. Trying to keep her anxiety under control, she picked at the grains of wood in the table.

Sarah came back and placed a plate of food in front of her before she sat down by her side. Mairead braced herself before looking at the food. There were two drumsticks and a fairly sized piece of the breast of the chicken with flecks of dark green herbs on the surface; a sizable amount of the garlic mash potatoes with the pink skins mixed in; and a nice side of steamed carrots, yellow zucchini, and broccoli. Mari took in a deep breath, her eyes widening at the amount of food on the plate. Her body started to shake slightly as she smelled the food in front of her.

"Hey, remember, I'm eating too." Sarah whispered in her ear, hugging her around the shoulders.

Mairead nodded, still looking wide eyed at the food. Since she couldn't exactly handle a fork and knife, Sarah cut up the chicken breast into smaller pieces and pulled the meat off the drumsticks for her so that she would only have to spear them with the fork in her left hand. She clumsily held the utensil in her hand, not used to eating with her non-dominate hand. Hesitating, she held the fork over the first piece of chicken. Mari cautiously poked the prongs of the fork into the tender white meat until it hit the plate. She put the small morsel into her mouth while her conscious was screaming profanities at herself in her aching head. Trying not to think of the number of calories that little piece of chicken had, she focused on the brace on her hand as she chewed as slowly as she could.

"… wanted to know if you love her." Her mom said to the boy across the table, snapping her attention up.

Blaine laughed as Mari swallowed the bite unconsciously and choked on the intake of breath. Sarah and Carole cracked up as she coughed and took a sip of water. "Mom! I… You…!"

Sarah smiled, partly because she succeeded in making her daughter eat and then simultaneously embarrassing her in front of her best friend. "Well, I said I would ask him if you weren't." She said mischievously as she ate a forkful of chicken.

"I think we should leave them to this conversation _alone_, don't you think so, Sarah?" Carole suggested, her eyes twinkling.

"Gladly." Sarah grinned as she watched Mari cover her face with one hand. She glanced discreetly down at the plate; she barely ate anything other than a bite of chicken and a piece of zucchini, leaving the rest to her daughter and hoping to the high heavens she would eat it all. "We'll both be in the kitchen if you need us."

The two women stood up and walked out of the dining room and into the kitchen, closing the door behind them. Carole got to work on getting the medication bottles out for each of the four while Sarah went in search of a blender and milkshake ingredients.

"Sarah," Carole started after she finished putting the pills for each teenager in four small paper cups. "What happened with Mairead? We could all hear you two outside the dining room."

Sarah sighed after she tapped the ice cream scoop on the edge of the blender, letting the frozen treat splash into the whole milk and Oreos. "Mairead suffered from anorexia when Jason and I first adopted her. She had had it for two years before we sent her to a treatment center." She said simply.

Carole gasped, not expecting her answer. "How is she now?"

"She's doing… better. As well as anyone can with this. You know how much psychological damage this can wreak on someone, Carole." Sarah sighed, putting another scoop of the vanilla ice cream in the blender before putting the lid on. "She has her bad days, like just now. Mari calls it the 'demon' talking when she doesn't want to eat." She turned on the blender, watching the Oreos coloring the mixture gray.

"If I can ask without being too intrusive," Carole asked, her tone respectful. "How much weight did she lose before being treated?"

Sarah shrugged. "It's fine. She lost about forty pounds off of her then ninety two pound frame. She's about the same height as she is now, if you can imagine that."

"Fifty pounds." Carole breathed out, her mind imagining how the Vietnamese girl must have looked.

"Yeah. She was about forty-eight pounds at her first weigh in right before being admitted. She had bone problems and her skin was cracked. Her heart was so dangerously close to failing because of the lack of nutrients." Sarah said sadly as she poured the milkshake into a tall glass. "She always kept saying she ate a big lunch. Add in bullying and loneliness and you have a lethal mix. Not to mention her speech therapy and history when we adopted her."

"Speech therapy? She didn't need ESL?" Carole asked, confused. She knew that Mairead was adopted in fifth grade but was puzzled by her lack of an accent.

"She came to me and Jason speaking English quite well in Vietnam. Much better than the orphanage officials actually, almost as if it was her first language other than Vietnamese. She never did explain how she learned it, though. But she still did need the therapy to correct some of her more major impediments. The Vietnamese language doesn't have the TH, L, or J sounds." Sarah said matter-of-factly.

The door opened; Sarah sucked in a breath, hoping it wasn't her daughter coming in. It was Kurt, actually. He looked a little ruffled, having just woken up.

"Blaine told me there was food in here. It smells really good, too." Kurt said, yawning. He hobbled in on his crutches to the stove.

"Well, of course there's food in here, silly." Carole smiled. "Here, I'll help." She said as he tried to balance on his crutches while holding a plate and scooping up mashed potatoes.

"Kurt, don't eat too much. It's almost time for all of you to take your meds." Sarah told him as she put the blender jug in the sink.

He nodded as he talked his step mom through what he wanted on his plate. All three of them went out to the dining room where Blaine and Mari were still eating and laughing. Sarah's heart soared as she saw her daughter's plate was nearly empty.

"What are you guys talking about?" Kurt asked as he hopped over to a chair by Blaine's side. Carole set the plate down in front of him.

"Just about Jeff and Nick setting the chemistry lab on fire a few weeks ago." Blaine said smiling as he scraped the bottom of his bowl with the metal spoon.

"Oh my God. I swear those two need straitjackets." Kurt rolled his eyes as he picked up his fork.

Mairead laughed, her fork scooping up mashed potatoes. She ate them while listening to Kurt rant about the two Warblers.

Sarah watched as she ate, feeling proud. She set the milkshake down in front of her and kissed her on the forehead before retreating back into the kitchen.

Carole and Sarah made small talk as the three teenagers ate in the next room. The door opened again and this time, Mairead came in with her plate in hand. Her face completely devoid of emotion. "Mom?" She asked in small voice. "I… I can't…"

"Yes, you can, sweetheart. You did it. You ate it all." She cupped her face in her hands, looking at her suddenly tear filled eyes.

"I'm sor-"

"No, you're not. I know you aren't sorry. I'm proud of you. I love you." Sarah hugged her as Carole took the plate out of Mari's hand.

Mairead hugged back, feeling a sense of accomplishment yet a very, very small twang of disappointment. She stayed in her mother's arms for a moment, trying to control her tears.

"Why don't you go back in there and finish your milkshake, hmm? Carole and I'll be back in there soon. I have to go and find Joey before we give you your meds for the night."

"The night? What time is it?" She asked, taken back at how much time had passed.

"It's nearly nine. You guys need the meds before you go to sleep." Sarah said as she tucked a strand of Mari's hair behind her ear.

Mari cocked an eyebrow up, looking incredulous. "Seriously?"

Sarah laughed a little. "Yup." She said warmly. "Go and finish the milkshake, honey. I'll be there in a bit." She gave her another kiss on the forehead.

Mairead smiled wryly. "Oh, fine."

* * *

Kurt and Blaine hobbled back up to their bedroom, feeling warm and full from the food they just consumed. They lay down, feeling the effects of the meds they just took.

"Ugh, I feel like I've just been sleeping all day." Kurt said, lying on his back with his arms splayed out like a snow angel.

"I think we both have." Blaine told him as he slowly raised his casted leg up onto the bed before lying down beside Kurt. "Considering that we had a press conference today and got to come here, I think that warrants a day of sleep."

"Or two."

Blaine laughed gently. "Or two, indeed."

The two lay there, half drowsing as they enjoyed each other's company. Blaine laid on his side and placed a hand on Kurt's chest, avoiding the bump of the gauze bandage under Kurt's silk pajama top. "We totally have to get to doing homework tomorrow. It's not going to be good for either of us if we fail and our GPAs drop." Blaine said slowly.

Kurt groaned faintly. "Great. Not to mention Rachel's going crazy with rehearsing for the New Directions fundraiser concert. Which she invited the both us. If you want to go, of course."

Blaine could hear the longing in his voice at watching his old glee club performing without him. "Why wouldn't I? But only if you come with me."

Kurt turned his head to the side to face the curly haired Warbler. He smiled as Blaine's face mirrored his own, both of their eyes threatening to close from the meds taking effect. "We'll talk tomorrow. You need sleep."

Blaine smiled back. "So do you. I love you." He leaned in for a kiss on Kurt's red lips.

"I love you, too." Kurt said once they broke apart. He shifted his arm comfortably under Blaine's neck and around his shoulder, leaning his head into his curly hair.

Blaine hummed in response as he moved closer to Kurt and snuggled into his side, his hand still on Kurt's chest.

Kurt could feel him rapidly falling asleep. He quietly murmured his modified lyrics from Just The Way You Are until he fell asleep next to him.

* * *

Carole walked into her step-son's room, expecting him to still be up and talking with Blaine. But instead, she discovered the two of them sleeping, Kurt hugging Blaine to his side.

She smiled as she covered them with the blanket which had slipped to the floor. Turning off the lights, she took one last look before leaving to go home.

* * *

**Hey guys! Like I said, I'm only able to upload the next chapter whenever I can get to my local library. But… you guys might get a little treat tomorrow. ;) You also might want to stock up on tissues and time for tomorrow too, just to let you know. **

**You guys are amazing! Please ****REVIEW****! And happy holidays to everyone!**


	23. Do You Hear What I Hear

**WARNING: Please have ample time, a full box of tissues, and Do You Hear What I Hear (Glee Cast version) loaded up on Youtube or iTunes. Thank you.**

_Friday, three in the afternoon_

Joey and Kurt were down in the living room watching CNN with their schoolbooks in front of them. The media had finally stopped showing the four of them after the police didn't release any more information ontheir case. Unfortunately, the news trucks still lingered around the three houses like vultures searching for carnage. They had to stay at Rachel's house while Sarah brought Mairead and Joey their school work and one of the Warblers, usually Jeff, brought Kurt and Blaine their two tons of homework every day.

"Kurt?" Joey asked timidly from his place on the floor with his leg under the coffee table, his brace off of his leg to let it air out.

"Hmm?" Kurt responded, not looking up from his Latin textbook.

"Can I ask you something?"

Kurt looked up and put his pen down on his notebook. "Yeah, Joey?"

"… What was it like when you lost your mom?" He said, barely audible. The funeral for Miranda was tomorrow. Lauren was coming back to Ohio later that night and was staying for the weekend before heading back to her school in California.

Kurt sighed, thinking of what to say. "It was hard at first. You're always thinking she'll come in the door at any moment and then you remember she's not here anymore. I still think that sometimes, even though my mom died a long time ago."

Joey stayed silent, absorbing it all in. "So, this is really it, isn't it? The last time I'll see her?"

Kurt carefully scooted off the couch and onto the ground, being careful of his similarly unbraced leg. He hugged Joey around the shoulders as the younger boy tried to keep his tears from falling. "No, Joey. It's not the last time you'll see her. It might be the last time you see her physically, but no; this is not the last time you'll see her. You'll see her in the things you do, whether you realize it or not. I see my mom every time I bake her sugar cookie recipe for glee club or whenever I sit at her vanity doing my daily morning routine." He told him gently. "I see her right now."

Joey whispered "Where?"

"Right here." Kurt looked directly at Blaine's younger brother. "I see her right in front of me."

Joey whipped his head around, thinking he saw her ghost or something around him. "I don't see anyone. Are you playing with me?" He demanded, an angry tear slipping down his face.

Kurt took his iPhone out of his pocket and snapped a quick picture. "There. Now do you see her?" He showed him the image.

What Joey saw was just a picture of himself but then realization dawned on his face. His tears now flowing freely down his pale face and dripping from his chin as he sobbed. "Oh my God." He cried.

Kurt threw his iPhone none too gently on the couch and wrapped his arms around the hurting boy, tucking him into his side. "You see, she's here. She's in you. She's here, Joey, and she's not going away anytime soon." He said softly, letting him release his emotions. "I don't need to see her to know that she's here to stay with you forever even if she isn't here physically."

Joey nodded into Kurt's gray t-shirt; he hadn't bothered with dressing up in his usual clothes today. Kurt heard someone clear their throat behind him. He lifted his head and saw Blaine looking at the two of them with deadened eyes, the black bags faintly appearing under his eyes.

Blaine nodded at Kurt, limping past them and into the kitchen with one crutch under his arm and other along the wall. Kurt could see that his eyes were wet.

"Joey?" Kurt asked softly, "I'm just going to get you a glass of water, okay? I'll be right back."

The younger boy nodded, tears coming down his face in trickles.

Kurt put his brace back on and covered it with his jean pant. Considering he wasn't in much pain right now, he took his cane instead of a crutch and walked slowly on both feet, keeping his balance while walking with the brace. He opened the door and saw his boyfriend staring out of the window with the same deadened look in his eyes. "Hey." Kurt greeted him with a smile.

Blaine smiled back while still looking out the window. The smile didn't reach his eyes as he continued staring a particular spot in the backyard of the Berry household.

"How was PT?" Kurt asked as he pulled a glass out from a cabinet. "I can see you got your IV out, too. Did Mari get hers out?"

Blaine shrugged and with his right hand, he pulled up the pant of his leg slightly through the open space in his crutch, showing Kurt his new brace on his leg.

Kurt smiled back gently. "At least we all got out of the damn casts. Feel good to be out of that?"

Blaine shrugged again, not looking at Kurt. He could hear him opening the refrigerator door and pulling out a bottle of water before pouring in the glass.

"Blaine?" Kurt inquired softly.

Blaine tilted his head slightly, still staring out the window.

Kurt walked over to the counter and leaned against it, looking at the Warbler from the side. "What's wrong? You got your casts off today and you're almost fully healed."

Blaine turned his head, his eyes emotionless as he said "Tomorrow."

Kurt nodded, giving him a look telling him to go on.

"I should be the one there for Joey, not you." He whispered. "This is my fault, not his or any of your faults. I should be there for him, not you."

"But-"

"Why don't you see this, Kurt?" Blaine yelled suddenly. "This. Is. My. Fault. All of this is my fault. Us being kidnapped and shot. Us having to hide out here until he's caught. Us even being at Dalton. This is my damn FAULT!" He slammed his fist into the metal edge of the sink.

Kurt backed up; he could feel the vibrations of Blaine's fist into the sink and out to the counter he was leaning on. "Blaine, it's not your fault! Why can't you see _that_?" He said as calmly as he could, his heart pounding in his chest.

Blaine turned and took one step forward. He put his hand on Kurt's chest, right where Matthew cut him. "This." He said quietly, his anger still boiling inside him. "This is my fault."

Kurt winced as he pressed down a little hard on his still healing stitches. "Blaine," he said carefully. He moved Blaine's hand from his chest to the place over his heart. "Are you saying that _this _is your fault too?"

He looked away, taking a step back but his hand still on Kurt's heart. He could feel the strong, steady, beating rhythm of the other boy's heart. "Yes, it's still my fault that he would have taken this away from the both of us. And he nearly did." Blaine whispered angrily.

"And you're the reason why I'm still here." Kurt said softly. "Do you remember the first time I met you, Blaine Anderson? The first time I met you on that staircase?"

Blaine stared at his feet, not answering his question.

"You sang me that song. Teenage Dream. And you know what you are, Blaine Anderson? You are my teenage dream. That lyric, 'No regrets, just love'? That's exactly _how I'm feeling right now._ I couldn't care less that I have these scars on my body because I. Love. You." Kurt said firmly. He tried to kiss him on the cheek, but Blaine lurched away and exited through the door that led to the dining room.

As soon as the door closed, it opened a minute later with Mairead looking concerned. She took in the sight of Kurt looking at the door with a distant look. "Kurt?" She asked as she walked in with a cane like Kurt's by her side instead of crutches. "What the bloody hell happened? Blaine's… I've never seen him this distraught before."

Kurt sighed, running a hand through his hair. "We had a little fight. Blaine keeps blaming himself for all of this. Don't you dare start that with me about that crap, Mari." Kurt warned when she opened her mouth. "You and I both know it's Matthew's fault and not any of our faults."

Mari smiled quite grimly. "I was just about to say you're the best thing he needs right now. He and I are more alike than you think, Kurt. Lauren is like you to me. He needs time to think, but just stay away from him for the rest of the day. Blaine'll come to you when he wants to."

Kurt nodded, releasing a breath. "Speaking of Lauren, what time is she coming tonight?"

"My dad's going to pick up her up around nine; flight gets in at eight thirty but with this rainy weather and all…" She motioned out the window. It was quite cloudy and raining lightly with dark storm clouds on the horizon. "Where's Joey?"

"He's in the living room, we were both doing homework while watching CNN. He… let's just say both he and Blaine are sinking in a sea of grief right now. You might want to be prepared when Lauren comes tonight." Kurt said, taking the glass of water with his free hand and started walking towards the living room.

Mairead nodded as she quickened her pace and walked ahead of Kurt, holding the door open for him. Joey had gone back to doing his math homework, the television still on.

* * *

Dinner had been a somewhat quiet affair that night; both Kurt and Joey were at the hospital doing their PT session with Burt, Rachel and Finn were at an extra glee club practice, Sarah and Carole doing the last minute arrangements for Miranda's funeral, Jason was waiting at the airport for Lauren, and it was only Mairead, Nick, Hiram, Leroy, and Blaine at the table.

Blaine ate quietly, having calmed down after a talk with Leroy when he stormed out on Kurt. His face grew paler and paler as the time passed, however. He barely ate much of anything before excusing himself to go and lie down, his stomach hurting him. Hiram and Nick kept up a conversation of the pros and cons of some computer stuff they were talking about.

"I'm guessing you're as bored as I am?" Leroy nudged Mari's good leg under the table.

Mairead smiled and laughed a little, putting a piece of the delicious meatball in her mouth. Unlike Rachel, only Leroy was the non-vegetarian in the Berry household and cooked meatballs that night for the three of them while Hiram had his spaghetti noodles with only the sauce. "A little. I'm used to this, though. He and Dad would talk for hours on end about the newest computers coming out. My mom and I would only be interested if it had something to with the medical world or video games."

"I know how you feel, Rachel only talks to her Daddy about new fashions coming out the next season or something." Leroy laughed at himself. "I don't know why she doesn't come to me."

Mairead looked at his beige and blue striped t-shirt and smiled wryly. "I don't know why either."

Suddenly, there was a loud thump that sounded and vibrated through the air in the dining room. Mairead's breath caught in her throat as her fork clattered onto the plate and her body froze up. Her eyes and mind traveled back to a dark place in her brain as she struggled to calm her suddenly racing heart. She could dimly hear Leroy telling Hiram that he would see what happened and Nick calling her name but she couldn't do anything, her eyes seeing the small white room again and the thumping sound echoing in her ears. Mari tried to move, but she couldn't even twitch her eyelids close to black out the image.

Nick quickly stood up, his chair knocked backwards as he reached his sister. He gently rubbed her arms and murmured in her ear, his lips moving rapidly. _Not now_, Nick thought. _Of all the times she needs a flashback, of course it had to be right now._ "Mairead, it's okay. Relax your legs first. Good." He said as he saw her toes move from its curled up position. "Now the rest of your legs." Nick continued like that until he saw her shoulders slump down from her tensed posture.

"N-Nick?" She whispered, blinking rapidly to keep her tears from falling. Mairead started to breathe in and out fast, as if she just ran a marathon. Hiram had gone into the kitchen to fetch her a glass of orange juice, as Nick asked him. "W-What happened? Where am I?" She babbled in heavily accented English before reverting to Vietnamese, her body tensing up again.

"Mari! You're okay, I'm here. You're in Rachel's house, remember? Blaine, Joey, and Kurt are here. Lauren's coming a little bit later. Come on, Mari. Come back here." Nick urged her, putting his hand in her still frozen hand.

Mairead whipped her head up at him, looking at him with unseeing wide eyes. Nick put her face in between his hands. "It's me, Nick, your brother." Slowly but surely, her eyes cleared up and a tear rolled down her face.

"Nick." She breathed out, her whole body finally relaxing. Her voice returned to normal as she took a few deep breaths. Nick had put his hand back into hers and she squeezed it tightly.

"Here, sweetie." Hiram said as he placed a tall glass of orange juice in front of her, a straw stuck in the yellow liquid.

Mairead gave him a watery smile as Nick held the glass for her. She took the straw between the fingers of her shaking hand and guided the thin white tube to her mouth. Sighing at the taste, she gulped down half of it before she took a breath.

"Better?" Nick asked, smiling.

She nodded. "Thanks, Nick." Mari said as she slumped into her chair, Nick still holding the glass for her. "What was that? Is Blaine okay?"

"I don't know, sis." Nick admitted looking towards the living room door. "Leroy's in there with him."

Mari nodded again as she took the glass from him, her hands steady enough to grip the glass.

"That's the first flashback you've had in weeks. Are _you_ okay?" Nick asked her in a low voice.

Shrugging, she finished the rest of the juice. "I'm fine. I think." Mairead said skeptically. "At least, I think I'm fine. I'll know more in a little bit probably." She looked at her nearly finished plate of spaghetti and meatballs. "I don't think I'm hungry anymore."

"Nope, you're finishing it." Nick said as he righted his upturned chair in a hurry to get to her. "Mari, you're almost done. Just finish the plate."

"Oh, fine." She huffed.

"You okay there, Mairead?" Hiram asked as he picked up his fork again.

Mari gave him a hesitant smile. "Yeah, I'm fine."

The three of them just finished eating as Leroy came in with the smallest of frowns on his face. Hiram kissed him as he sat down across Mairead and finished his own plate.

Nick and Hiram were cleaning up the table and left the two of them alone as they went in and out, cleaning the dishes off the table.

"Leroy," Mairead said in a hushed tone. "That was Blaine, wasn't it?"

He grimaced as he drank from his wine glass. "He's hurting. It wasn't as bad as this afternoon, but he's hurting."

Mairead nodded, knowing that her best friend wasn't hurting from physical pain. "Should I…?" She let the question hang.

The older man shook his head. "No. I have him lying down on the couch for right now until Kurt comes home."

She nodded and stood up, using the table for support as she grabbed her cane from the wall behind her. "If he needs me, tell him I'm sitting on the staircase." Leroy nodded as she spoke.

Mairead walked slowly with her brace and cane to the bottom steps of the staircase in front of the front doors. She checked her watch, it was only eight o'clock. But she sat there anyway, getting herself lost in her thoughts. She nearly didn't notice when the doors opened a blond girl came in with Jason holding a duffle bag over his shoulder.

Lauren gave her best friend a small smile as Mairead slowly stood up and hobbled over to her. She gave the Asian girl a tight hug.

Mairead stood back after they broke apart. Lauren looked like Blaine, her blue eyes with heavy bags underneath them. She had definitely lost weight the last she saw her. Her position was more slumped than before. "Come on, let's go downstairs. I have Brotherhood set up already, you can help me on the fifth sequence and the damn synchronization for those memories."

Lauren nodded listlessly and followed her down to the basement with her duffle bag in hand. Jason had given it to her after the two of them hugged. They played for a bit before Mari noticed what was wrong with the quiet around them. Lauren wasn't talking at all.

She gently took the Xbox controller out of her hand and paused the game. Lauren let it slip from her fingers. "Let me guess, tomorrow?" Mairead asked her softly.

The blond girl nodded and slumped even more against the back of the couch. "I never realized this day would come so soon. I always thought I had to wait until way after college for tomorrow." She whispered, playing with the bracelet on her wrist. "Why did it come so soon?" Lauren looked up at Mari. "What did you do when your mom died, Mari?"

"I did the same thing you're doing, Lavren." She smiled sadly, using her nickname for her best friend. "It far too soon for the both of us. But just know this," Mari put her fingers under her trembling chin and lifted her face up. "I'll _never_ leave you like this. I swear on my life. I'm going to be here for you every step of the way."

Lauren nodded and leaned against her best friend's shoulder, watching her pick up the controller and resumed the game. She watched as Mairead killed a big crowd of Borgia guards, letting her imagination think that each one of them was her father Ezio was stabbing and killing. Lauren couldn't help but notice Mairead wincing when the pistol fired whenever she executed a kill streak.

* * *

_Saturday, three in the morning_

Blaine woke with a start, his heart racing. He glanced blurrily at the neon green numbers on the clock on the desk across the room. It was only thirteen more hours until his mother's funeral. Looking next to him, Kurt was sleeping peacefully on his stomach, his arm draped across Blaine's waist. He got up, carefully lifting up his arm and kissed him lightly on the forehead before slowly getting off the bed.

Getting his new crutches where they he left them leaning against the wall, Blaine lurched himself to his feet. His braced foot still throbbing painfully from where he banged it against the ground earlier when he was alone after dinner. Leroy managed to get him to calm down before he led him upstairs to his room. Kurt had come in later, having returned from his PT session and dinner. Blaine could remember his warm arms around his body as he sat there, trying to cry. Carole had come in and given them their meds before they both fell asleep.

Blaine slowly jumped his way to the kitchen, not accustomed to using the crutches yet. Opening the door, he noticed someone else already in there. "Lauren?" He said softly, his hand still holding the door open.

She turned around, her usually bright blue eyes were dull. "Hey, Blaine." Lauren said quietly, stirring a cup of hot chocolate.

"Couldn't sleep either?" He asked as he hobbled over the cabinet and reached to take out a mug like hers.

She nodded as she got the mug for him. "You want the same thing?" Lauren asked as she lifted the hot water kettle from counter and poured the correct amount.

"I can do it. You go and sit down, I'll join you in a bit when I'm done here." Blaine moved to take the hot chocolate packet from her.

"And how are you going to hold the cup and your crutches while walking?" Lauren snapped wearily. Blaine stopped himself from ripping the paper pouch open. Lauren sighed. "Sorry, Blaine. I shouldn't have…"

He set the packet down and gave her a sad smile. "I'll be in the living room on the couch when you're finished." Blaine resettled his arms on his crutches and hopped out of the kitchen.

Lauren watched and then when the door swung shut, she let out an exasperated sight; getting mad at herself, she tore open Blaine's hot chocolate and stirred it for him. Some of the brown mixture slopped out as she stirred, her anger getting the better of her. She finished thoroughly mixing in the powder and picked up both cups before walking out to the living room.

Blaine had his leg up on the coffee table and was flipping through the infomercials on the flat screen television. His eyes had a glazed look in them as Lauren set his cup on the table in front of them as she sat down. They both stared at the television, not really paying attention to anything in particular.

"Blaine," Lauren said, taking a sip from her mug. "What do you think Mom's thinking right now?"

He stayed silent, thinking. "She's probably thinking of us. How we've made her proud the whole time we've had her with us." Blaine said, thinking of his encounter with Miranda during his surgery. He hadn't told anyone about his dream yet, not even Kurt. "And she's probably watching down on us right this very minute."

Lauren nodded, tears very slowly dripping off her chin and into her hot chocolate. Her hands trembled as she brought the cup up to her mouth. "I can't believe she's gone, Blaine." She whispered, her voice shaking. "What are we going to do? Da- I mean… the bastard's still out there."

"Come here." Blaine set down his mug and the remote on the table. He opened his arms and Lauren scooted over and into his side. "We're going to keep living the way we've always have. It'll just be a little… different. Sarah and Jason'll treat us like their own children; they already have."

"Yeah, but it's n-not M-Mom," she sobbed into his t-shirt. "And D-Dad." Lauren said in a smaller voice.

"I know, Lauren." Blaine murmured into her blond hair. "I know."

The two of them stayed like that, the brother comforting his younger sister. It wasn't until Lauren had fallen asleep out of sheer exhaustion from the day did Blaine reach with his left braced hand, Lauren had fallen asleep holding his right arm to herself, to grab a pillow from the end of the sofa. He gently laid her head down on the pillow in his lap and covered her body up to her shoulders with the soft fleece blanket that was hanging over the back of sofa. Blaine kissed his sister's cheek as he tucked the blanket more warmly around her. Turning off the TV, he tried to get into a comfortable position as he laid his head back on the back of the sofa and gradually fell asleep himself.

* * *

_Nine in the morning_

Kurt woke up and flopped over on his back, expecting to feel the warm heat of Blaine next to him. He reached a hand out and felt nothing next to him. Opening his eyes, no one was there. Kurt's eyes widened as he sat up, looking for his boyfriend. He blinked a couple of times to clear his eyes. Blaine's crutches were gone and the door was closed. Getting his cane from where it was leaning on the nightstand, Kurt stood up and walked out of his room.

Making a pit stop to the bathroom on the way, he entered into the kitchen and saw no one was there. His heart started to beat faster as he quickly hobbled to the dining room, noting one was there either. Kurt nearly slammed open the door to the living room before Sarah stopped him.

"Stop, Kurt!" She whispered urgently. "It's okay, Blaine's in there." Sarah jerked her head towards the door.

Kurt looked taken back. "Why is he in there?" He whispered back.

Sarah sighed, looking worn. "I found Lauren and him sleeping on the couch in there this morning."

Kurt cautiously opened the door and poked his head in. True to Sarah's words, Blaine was snoring lightly with his legs on the coffee table and Lauren's head in his lap. The coffee table itself was littered with two cups half full of cold hot chocolate. They were holding each other's hand as they slept. Kurt slowly closed the door, being careful of the noise.

"I was thinking of waking them up in another hour or so. Those two need the sleep." Sarah said as she led him back into the kitchen. "Coffee?"

"Please." Kurt answered as he leaned against the counter. He had finally calmed his heart enough to accept the hot ceramic mug. "Today's going to be a battle for those three, isn't it? I remember when it was my mom's funeral."

Sarah nodded grimly. "Funerals always are. I remember when Jason and I first met Mairead in Vietnam. She had taken us to her mother's gravesite and cried. Her mother's funeral was a month before we came."

Kurt looked down at his cup. "I'm sorry."

"I'm also sorry, for you, Kurt." Sarah responded in kind. "It always breaks my heart whenever I see someone so young such as all five of you to witness death so early. I sometimes have to deal with it a lot of the time when I'm at the hospital when a brother or sister of a patient of mine comes up to me and asks if their sibling is going to be okay." She set her cup down on the counter. "How's your chest? Did anybody clean out the cuts last night after you showered?"

Kurt shook his head as he sipped the black concoction. "No, everybody was busy with something and I didn't want to bother anyone. I kept it dry, though."

"Finish your coffee. I'll clean them for you; they need a new dressing anyway since there aren't any more stitches." Sarah said as she chewed on a bit of toast. "Your parents have the suits for both you and Blaine with them. I think they'll be coming after lunch and then we'll all go to the cemetery after everyone's dressed."

Kurt nodded and drank his coffee. Sarah bustled around while he did. She gave him a small cup with his morning pills while she put some bread in the toaster, hearing someone come towards the kitchen door.

Mairead came in the door with her cane in hand, looking haggard with bags under her eyes. She gave him a small smile as Sarah walked towards and gave her a hug and a kiss.

"Hey, Mari." Kurt said quietly, finishing his cup.

"Hey." She answered back, coming towards him. Kurt hugged her, feeling her arms tighten around his rib cage as she hugged him back. "You okay?"

Mari slowly nodded, fighting back a yawn. "As well as anyone can be on the day of a funeral. I just didn't sleep too well. Where's Lauren?"

"Out in the living room with Blaine. Don't open the door; both of them are asleep on the couch together." Kurt warned as he limped over the dishwasher.

She nodded as the toaster popped up with the bread nicely browned.

"I'll be in my room, Sarah. Just come in whenever you're ready." Kurt told Mairead's mom. She nodded as she put away the milk in the refrigerator.

Kurt walked slowly upstairs. Rachel's door was still closed and he could hear Barbra Streisand singing through the crack at the bottom of the thick wood. He walked to the window and opened them partially. It had rained yesterday night so there were clouds covering the whole of the blue sky. It was as if the world knew today was a sad day and it conveyed everyone's emotions. He sighed, remembering the cheery sunny day of his mom's funeral.

A soft knock alerted Kurt to someone coming in. It was Sarah with various supplies in her arms. He smiled as she walked over to the desk and set everything down. Sitting down on the edge of the bed he unbuttoned his dark blue pajama shirt and lay down. Kurt looked away as Sarah bent over him and slowly peeled the adhesive tape and gauze off of his chest.

Sarah was the only one besides Mairead who could clean his cuts with wincing or crying out. Carole had run out crying the first time he asked her to clean out the stitches. Burt couldn't do because his calloused fingers would press too hard when he cleaned them. Kurt suspected it was out of anger and not carelessness.

He slowly turned his head towards his chest and looked down. In angry red lines was the word he would never say carved into his chest. It didn't look as bad as it did when he had the stitches in. Kurt winced reflexively as the cold disinfectant touched his skin, feeling nothing but the cold liquid. He looked back up at the ceiling while Sarah cleaned out the healing cuts and put a new gauze covering and taped it down.

"All set, Kurt. Like always, just don't get it wet or pick at it." Sarah said as she snapped off her latex-free rubber gloves.

Kurt gave her a smile as he sat up, buttoning up his shirt halfway. "Thank you, Sarah." He told her sincerely. She smiled back and walked out.

He lay back, putting his hands under his head. Kurt stared at the bumpy ceiling until Rachel came in, looking a little subdued.

"Hey, I need your advice for today. Care to help?" She asked him in her pink and red heart pajamas and her hair in messy pigtails.

He smiled. "Sure."

The two of them went through Rachel's giant walk-in closet, going through every piece of clothes Rachel thought was appropriate for a funeral. From pink and white polka dotted dress to a neck to foot black dress, the two finally decided on a cocktail length navy dress with black flower designs. They were laughing at something Rachel said when Kurt saw Blaine leaning against the doorway, looking tired.

"Hey, Blaine." Rachel said, giving him a gentle smile.

Blaine smiled back, the light not reaching his eyes. "Hey. Kurt, Carole's here with the suits. Can you get them?" He limped into the room he shared with Kurt.

Kurt moved to go downstairs, but Rachel's hand his arm stopped him. "Don't. I'll get them. You go with him." She said quietly.

He nodded as she walked past him. Walking back into his room, he discovered Blaine sitting on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands. "Hey, what's wrong?" Kurt asked, even though he knew the answer.

"Today." Blaine said, not looking up.

"I know. Blaine, I know. We'll get through it. I won't leave your side unless you tell me to, okay?" Kurt told him softly.

He nodded, leaning into Kurt as he closed his eyes briefly. Kurt rubbed his shoulder as they sat there, listening to the bustle of everyone in the house.

Rachel came up and handed the two black bags to Kurt, who stood up stiffly and smiled his thanks to her. He laid the bags down and walked over to close the door, leaving it open a tiny bit. Kurt helped Blaine into his suit first, helping him take off his shirt. Kurt turned away to take the white dress shirt, tie, and black blazer out of the bag.

"Kurt."

He turned back to see Blaine looking at his chest and his scar. Blaine turned his eyes up with tears in his eyes. "I'm so sorry." He whispered, glancing down again, thinking Kurt's scars.

Kurt tilted Blaine's head up with his fingertips. "Blaine, it's okay. I'm okay." He murmured gently, wiping away the stray tear that rolled down his cheek. Blaine nodded as he allowed Kurt to slip his shirt over his shoulders and button up the pearl colored buttons. He stopped him at the tie, insisting he could do it himself. Kurt helped him gel his hair down to his usual part of his hair on his head.

They both finished dressing and went downstairs where everyone was waiting. The adults gave the two of them small smiles. Blaine didn't say anything, focusing on trying to pull his pant length down to cover the more obvious signs of his brace. He grunted quietly, the pain getting to him from both his leg and stomach. Everyone walked out to the garage where the numerous cars were waiting.

Blaine stumbled through the door, his crutches getting caught on the bump that separated the garage from the house. Burt caught him before he fell on his face, the crutches clattering on the cement. "Whoa there, kiddo. You okay?" Burt asked, concerned.

Kurt walked back over to his boyfriend, noting the signs of pain on his face. "You didn't take the pain meds yet, haven't you?" He asked, his eyebrows knitting up.

Blaine looked up, the pain clearly evident in his eyes. "No. I don't want to be groggy for this, Kurt. I don't want to sleep through my own mother's funeral."

"But kiddo-"

"He said no, Dad." Kurt said firmly, understanding him. "Blaine, I think it might be better for you to be in the wheelchair instead of your crutches. You've barely had them for a day. I don't want you to fall and the grass is a little slippery after last night's rainfall." He told him reasonably.

Blaine nodded, sighing at himself. Kurt helped him keep his balance as his father picked up the crutches and gave them to Blaine. He let them help him into Nick's CR-V as Jason opened the back of his son's car and loaded the collapsible wheelchair in the trunk. Once the door slammed, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Kurt was calling him instead of his usual way of texting. "Hello?" He answered dully.

"Hey. I thought if you ever needed to talk, we could just keep our phones on until we get there."

Blaine paused, getting a little teary at the love Kurt was giving him. "I-" his voice caught in his throat. "I love you. So much."

Almost if he could see him, Blaine could hear the smile in his voice. "I love you too, Blaine Anderson, and I will never stop loving you."

Blaine fell asleep, the phone call still on during the two hour drive to his mom's final resting place. Jason and Nick helped him from the car and into the wheelchair, being careful of his leg. He could see Kurt walking with his black cane towards him. The two held hands as they waited for everyone to park the cars before walking into the quiet grassy field, dotted with stone grave markers. Mairead, Lauren, and Joey joined them as they got out of their cars.

Hearing a loud noise coming up from behind the cars, Blaine looked up and saw a bus rolling towards them. The five of them looked surprised as Kurt and Blaine's fellow Warblers trooped off of the coach bus, wearing suits not unlike the ones Kurt, Joey, and Blaine were wearing. Mairead watched a specific blond haired boy step off the bus, stumbling a little bit and then laughing at himself.

"Guys, what…?" Blaine said as they all came towards him.

"Blaine, you'd really think we wouldn't come?" David said as he straightened his tie. "We're Warblers, Blaine. We support each other, no matter what we do."

"And plus, it gave us an excuse to get off campus for a little bit." Jeff quipped.

"Jeff!" Mairead said, swatting him on the head. Everyone smiled as he combed his hair with his fingers, blushing.

"Let me guess," Kurt said wryly. "Mairead told you guys to come?"

"Well… kind of?" Wes said, grinning. "_Jeff_ told us that the funeral was today a couple of days ago so we went to the headmaster and he let us go."

"Anyway, we're here, Blaine. And we'll always be here for another Warbler." David said, rolling his eyes at his friends.

Blaine smiled sadly. "Thanks, guys. Really."

They all returned his smile, some giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze as they walked over to the back rows of the chairs in front of a white and silver edged coffin.

All the adults returned and started to guide them towards the chairs. Kurt heard his name being called and turned around, laying a hand on his father's arm. Burt was pushing Blaine and stopped.

The New Directions were hurrying towards him, all of them dressed in mismatched colors. "I'll be okay, Kurt." Blaine said quietly, letting go of his hand.

Kurt nodded, kissing him on his cheek before turning to greet his old glee club.

* * *

Kurt joined Blaine, Joey, Lauren, and Mairead in the front row of the chairs. Sitting down, Blaine took his hand again, gripping it tightly. Mairead and Lauren doing the same thing. Both of the girls were dressed alike, black button up dress shirts with black dress pants. Kurt, Mairead, and Joey hid their canes and crutches beneath their chairs. All the parents and Nick were sitting directly behind them. Finn, Rachel, and the New Directions, along with Mr. Schuester, Ms. Pillsbury, Coach Beiste, and surprisingly, Coach Sylvester, were sitting in the back rows with the Warblers.

There had been news trucks about to enter the cemetery parking lot but luckily, police were there to combat them. Some of them still got through and to the rows of chairs. Kurt looked on, a little impressed, as Coaches Beiste and Sylvester sought them out and yelled insults at them until they went away. By the time Coach Sylvester, in her dark blue track suit with orange stripes, was yelling at a male camera man telling him to go and record Barney's acts of coitus with a donkey, Tyler, Aaron, Jim, and Julia had arrived with police officers and had him escorted off the grounds. The four SWAT officers smiled at the five teenagers before taking their seats towards the middle of the chairs, behind the parents but in front of the two show choirs.

Miranda's beautiful white and silver edged coffin was sitting in front of them. The pile of dirt had been covered with green turf to camouflage it into the background. It was sunny afternoon with a few clouds in the sky. The three Anderson children were wearing sunglasses to hide the tears threatening to spill over the entire day. Blaine's hands were shaking as he stared at the coffin, not bothering to listen to the eulogies about his mom. All of three of them had elected not to speak, they had all decided privately to say what they need to when it was time to actually bury her. What they wanted to say was not for everyone to hear but for themselves and their mother.

The ceremony started promptly at four and ran without a hitch. Some of the speakers included some funny moments but the three of them never laughed, only looked at them through the sunglasses. It was only when it was time to get up and stand by her coffin did Blaine's lower lip started to tremble. Granted, he was still in a wheelchair, but he wasn't ready to go up there with his sister and brother.

"Kurt." He breathed; grateful he sat next to him throughout the whole ceremony.

Kurt looked at him through a pair of his own dark sunglasses. "Yes, love?" He whispered.

"I-I… I can't." He whispered, holding back tears. "I can't go up there."

"Shh, Blaine. It's okay. It's okay. I'm here." Kurt reached over the arm rest and took one of his trembling hands in his own and rubbed circles onto the back of his hand. "Joey and Lauren understood this might happen. They told me before that it's okay if you didn't go up there. If people want to talk to you, they'll come here. It's okay. You're okay, I'm here. I'm not going anywhere." He told him under his breath.

They both watched as row after row of people went up to Lauren and Joey to offer their condolences, a few coming to Blaine to give him sad smiles, clap him on the shoulder, or to say how proud Miranda would have been. Blaine did nothing but nod, Kurt was speaking for him.

Soon, everyone had tapered off to their cars having given their respects to the Anderson family. Only the New Directions, Rachel's dads, the Warblers, Mr. Schuester, Ms. Pillsbury, Coach Sylvester, Coach Beiste, Burt, Carole, the Stryka family, and the three Anderson children were left. The two choirs had retreated to a distance but didn't leave. Jason, Sarah, Burt, Carole, Nick, and Mairead were at coffin, helping Blaine and Joey stand so they could touch their mother's coffin before it was buried. Kurt also had to be helped so he could stand to support Blaine. Nick was helping his sister so she could hold onto Lauren's hand.

Blaine grunted as Jason helped him up on his good left leg, being careful that his pant covered right braced leg didn't hit anything. A small wave of nausea rolled over him from the pain in his stomach but he forced it down, determined to be strong for his two younger siblings.

Kurt was standing with Burt's hands on his shoulders while his free hand had his cane firmly planted on the ground. He tightened his hand around Blaine's as he was staring at Miranda's coffin.

"Mom," Lauren began, quite softly. "Words can't describe how much we're all going to… miss y-you. I mean, you have been nearly everything to u-us a-and I-I'll miss you so m-much." She sobbed into Sarah's shoulder. Her hand clutching Mairead's as her other hand refused to budge from where she was touching the coffin.

Joey had tear streaks coming down his face, his nose already red from sniffing. "Mom, I love you. We all love you so much. I promise we'll make you proud in whatever we do, wherever we go. I know you always wanted to go to Florida with us, and I promise, when we all go together one day, you'll be with us every step inside Disney World.

A round of small smiles and quite chuckles sounded around Miranda.

It was Blaine's turn to speak. Kurt murmured into his ear, "It's okay, you don't have to say anything if you don't want to."

Blaine shook his head and took a deep, gasping breath. "Mom…" he began, a sob creeping into his voice. "I-I… love… you." That was all he could manage before completely breaking down into sobs. He barely listened as Jason, Sarah, Mairead, and Nick gave their little speeches to her as he quietly cried into Kurt's shoulder.

All of the adults gently guided the three Anderson children away from the coffin, Blaine refused to take his hand off until Carole and Sarah whispered soothingly to him, and back to the seats they sat before.

All of the New Directions and the Warblers made their way over to the side of the coffin. Rachel stepped forward with Wes with the rest of them standing behind the two of them. "Joey, Lauren, Blaine. I know this is a very trying time for the three of you. We wanted to show you our support by singing a song that Sarah told us Miranda often enjoyed. It was Miranda's favorite.

Blaine's hand tightened around Kurt as all of them started to sing, with the Warblers and New Directions singing acapella in the background. David started to sing, but stayed where he was.

_Said the night when to the little lamb_

_Do you see what I see?_

_Way up in the sky, little lamb_

_Do you see what I see?_

Thad took over the next verse, taking over from where David left off.

_A star, a star, dancing in the night_

_With a tail as big as a kite_

_With a tail as big as a kite_

Tina opened her mouth and her beautiful voice rang out over the grassy cemetery as she sang. The rest of the New Directions girls joined her in the background, their voices adding an ethereal echo.

_Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy_

_Do you hear what I hear? (Do you hear what I hear?)_

_Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy_

_Do you hear what I hear? (Do you hear what I hear?)_

Quinn, like Thad, took over for Tina on the next verse, this time with the girls and some of the Warblers accompanying her.

_A song, a song, high above the trees_

_With a voice as big as the sea (A voice as big as the sea)_

_With a voice as big as the sea (A voice as big as the sea)_

Santana sang the next lines with such emotion, everyone started tearing up. The girls provided the background this time.

_Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king_

_Do you know what I know? (Do you know what I know?)_

Wes' voice rang out over everyone when it was his turn, all of the girls helping him in his verse.

_In your palace warm, mighty king_

_Do you know what I know? (Do you know what I know?)_

Santana joined Wes, their voices melding nicely with each other.

_A child, a child, shivers in the cold_

_Let us bring him silver and gold_

_Let us bring him silver and gold_

David came back out of the background to sing his last line.

_Let us bring him_

Thad and Quinn sang together, their notes blending into a chord.

_Silver and gold_

Tina finished up her lines in the song.

_Do you know what I know?_

Wes looked at Blaine with tears shining in his eyes.

_Do you see what I see?_

Everyone looked towards Quinn and Thad, who were in the center of the front row; they started to sing the last line together when they took in a deep breath. And from there, all the Warblers and New Directions sang,

_Do you hear what I hear?_

There wasn't a dry eye after the last note faded poignantly into the fresh spring air. Even Coach Sylvester was fighting back tears.

"Miranda," Wes began, his voice wavering. "We might not have known you, but if Blaine, Joey, and Lauren are any indication, you are a pretty awesome mother."

Blaine looked at the group of his classmates and New Directions through his dark sunglasses. "Thank you." He mouthed more than whispered.

Sarah and Carole disappeared for a moment only to reappear with a bouquet of white calla lilies and white roses. They both handed the flowers to Lauren, who stared at them for little bit before gingerly laying them on top of her mother's casket.

"C-Can," Lauren's voice caught in her throat. "Can we have a moment alone?"

The adults looked at each other while all the teenagers nodded, retreating back to the line of cars to give them space. Following suit, the parents followed the New Directions and Warblers.

Kurt bent down slowly to give Blaine a kiss on the cheek while Mairead half-hugged and squeezed Lauren. Both of them hobbled back to their parents and peers. Burt enveloped Kurt in a hug while his son cried silently into his chest, Mairead doing the same thing to her dad.

Almost all of the New Directions and Warblers said their good-byes to Kurt and Mairead and left the cemetery in their cars and the coach bus. Only the Strykas, Burt, Carole and Finn, Rachel, and her dads stayed behind.

Kurt had been leaning into his father's chest when his phone vibrated in his pocket. It was a text from Blaine, reading, _Can u 2 come back here? Alone?_

"Mari," He said softly.

She nodded, getting the same text from Blaine.

Kurt took the crutches from Finn, who fetched them from Kurt's SUV at his mom's command, and handed his cane to his father. The both of them slowly made their way over to their hurting friends.

Blaine felt Kurt's hand on his shoulder behind him and reached a hand up to hold it. Lauren was leaning her head on Mairead's stomach while also clutching Mari's hand.

Joey looked over to the men in green work clothes who were watching them from a far, waiting for the ceremony to be over. He waved a hand and nodded. The men climbed into the machines, a small crane and a small bulldozer.

All four of them watched as the men carefully hung straps around their mother's coffin and lifted her up slightly, taking the metal cart out from beneath her. But before they lowered her into the hole in the ground, three yellow butterflies flew in and landed on top of their mother's coffin. They stayed there for a moment before a jerk of the coffin sent them flying again. Blaine cried silently as he followed one of the butterflies with his head, watching fly up into the setting sun and finally out of sight.

The watched as she was slowly lowered down into the earth, the gleaming white and silver edged casket disappearing into the ground.

"Now's the time to drop whatever else in before we pour the dirt over her." One of the men said in a gentle tone, despite his rough voice.

Blaine looked up at Kurt, who nodded and reached into his breast pocket of his black blazer. He pulled out a vial of white-ish brown powder and handed it to his boyfriend with a small kiss.

"Lauren," he asked quietly. "Can you drop this in on top of the flowers with Mom?"

She nodded, tears in her eyes when she realized what he was holding. Standing up and walking, by herself, she knelt down and gently tossed the vial on top of the bed of flowers. "Mom, I love you."

Joey called out from where he was sitting, "I love you, Mommy."

Blaine's lip quivered again as he tightened his grip around Kurt's hand. "I'll miss you and love you forever, Mom."

Lauren scooped a handful of dirt and brought it over to her brothers. They both touched it briefly before she gently sprinkled it over their mother, all of them hearing the soft sound of the dirt scattering on the casket. She looked over to the men and nodded, telling them they were done.

Mairead looked over at their parents and waved them to come over. They had hung back to allow the Andersons, and their friends, space to say their real good-byes.

Blaine whispered "Bye, Mom." as Burt wheeled him around and away from the gravesite and back to the cars. Kurt hopped on his crutches along side with the wheelchair. "Kurt?" he quietly asked.

Kurt didn't look at Blaine, concentrating on not falling on his face, but said "Yeah?"

"Can I ride in the car with you? I know it might be a little cramped with our legs…" He trailed off.

"Sure, kiddo. We'll all ride together." Burt answered when Kurt stopped to look at him. "Finn can ride with Nick back to Rachel's house. We'll put the chair in Nick's car, too."

They waited by the black SUV for everyone else to catch up. Blaine and Kurt, figuratively, stood off by the side while everyone figured out carpool arrangements. Blaine barely heard them as he leaned his head into Kurt's hip. Kurt ran a hand through Blaine's gelled hair as he listened to everyone. Burt was going to take Blaine and Kurt home in Kurt's SUV, giving Blaine's wheelchair to Nick. Sarah was going to drive Mairead but Mari insisted, quietly arguing, that she take Lauren in her tiny Honda Fit. Instead, Mari would go with Carole in her Corolla. Joey was going to ride with Jason in the Pilot and Finn would ride with Nick in his CR-V.

After Burt got his son into the SUV, both he and Finn had to help Blaine settle beside Kurt on the very back seat of the car; they had folded down the middle seats to make room for their legs to rest on.

Blaine finally took off his sunglasses, revealing quite red and blood shot eyes. Kurt wrapped his arms around him as Burt slowly drove, following the car in front to Rachel's house. Blaine buried his head in Kurt's chest the whole ride over, crying softly. Kurt just held him, stroked his back, and massaged his scalp until they came to a stop on the road in front of Rachel's house.

"Blaine?" He asked, looking down at him. "Let's go inside; we'll take the meds and go to sleep, okay?" Blaine nodded, sniffling.

And they did just that. Blaine, Burt, Kurt, and Finn were the first go inside after Leroy Berry opened the garage door to the house. Kurt helped Blaine undress from his midnight black suit, throwing them lazily on the floor by the closet, and got him into his pajamas pants, t-shirt, and sweatshirt, Blaine was shivering after he took his black blazer off. Kurt got himself in his dark blue silk pajamas, and made sure the door was open as he sat down a little heavily on the bed. He propped his crutches up against the nightstand and slipped beneath the covers. Blaine curled into Kurt's chest and quietly sobbed again. They stayed like that until Sarah knocked on the door softly, alerting the two of them to her presence. She had in her hands two cups of milk and two little cups of brightly colored medications. Both of them sat up and automatically swallowed the pills along with the milk. The medications took effect immediately; both of the boys were sleepy before they could finish their cups of milk.

"I'm here, I love you, Blaine." Kurt slurred as he laid his head next to his. They were out like a light the next minute.

Sarah sadly smiled at her new son and his boyfriend as she pulled up and tucked the blanket around the two of them. She kissed Blaine on his forehead before brushing Kurt's bangs out of his eyes. Sarah closed the blinds and propped open the door, making sure the door stop was firmly grounded. Taking one last look at the two sleeping boys curled around each other, she went downstairs.

Outside the window, a yellow butterfly landed on a branch closest to the glass. Soon it was joined by a delicate white butterfly. It was as if they were standing vigil for the two boys sleeping, finally at peace, inside the bedroom.

* * *

**This is one of the more harder chapter to write in this story. Do me a favor, after you're done reading this, please give your mom, dad, children, family, friends, anyone a big hug tell them you love them. If anything, the moral of this chapter is this, life's a little short not tell anyone you love them. **

**Please review, guys. Thank you for reading!  
**


	24. Chapter 24

_Sunday, six in the morning_

Kurt woke up, feeling warm and the room radiating a dim light from the partially closed windows. He shifted on his side, being careful not to wake up the sleeping boy curled up next to him, Blaine's hand holding his up to their chests. Kurt glanced at the clock with its neon green numbers staring at him. It was only six in the morning. Kurt moaned quietly, it felt like he had only slept for two hours.

Blaine stirred, moving closer to Kurt. His eyes were still red rimmed and the deep bags still there. His hair had residual amounts of gel from the day before. Kurt didn't have the heart to wake him up after they had fallen asleep after the funeral; Blaine truly did need the sleep.

Kurt was about to go back to sleep when he heard someone walk through the open doorway. Opening his eyes again blearily, Kurt saw his father kneeling down to his level on his side of the bed. "Hi, Dad." Kurt said sleepily, closing his eyes.

"Morning, Kurt." Burt said softly. "You awake?"

"Do I need to?" Kurt replied with his eyes closed again, getting closer to the edge of sleep.

Chuckling softly, Burt said "No, just wanted to check in with you two. I thought I heard something coming from here. Just wanted to see if you guys were okay." Burt pulled the blanket up to his son's shoulders and tucked around the two boys. "Go to sleep, I'm going to work and Carole and everyone else is coming around lunch."

"Mmm… o…kay. Love you… Dad." Kurt whispered, falling back into the comfortable blackness of sleep. He wrapped his arms around Blaine and snuggled deeper into his pillow.

Burt smiled and kissed his son on the forehead, smoothing out a bit of hair that was ruffled from the night. He watched Blaine sleep, noting how weary the teen's face was.

Walking down to the front door, he saw someone with black hair sitting in the sofa in the family room, staring out the bay windows at the rising orange sun with purple-pink sunglasses on. Burt cleared his throat gently, trying to draw attention while not being too loud in respect to all the people still sleeping. Seeing the person turn around, it was Mairead sitting with her arms leaning on her drawn up good leg.

She took off the sunglasses, which were covering her regular glasses, and faced Burt. "Hi, Mr. Hummel." Mari said softly.

"Call me Burt, Mairead. Mr. Hummel is my father, not me." Burt said gruffly, sitting down by her.

"Sorry, M- I mean, Burt." She grinned.

Burt smiled in return, looking out the window with her. "So, what are you doing up so early? I would have thought that teenagers sleep until noon."

She shrugged. "Just thinking, and I'm not a teenager; not anymore." Mairead shifted her glasses up her nose using the frame and lens with her fingers.

The older man turned towards her, a questioning look on his face. "You still look like one to me; and what are you thinking about?"

"Just…" Mari sighed. "Just about yesterday and… stuff."

Burt gave a look to tell her to go on.

"Well, first of all, how do you define being a teenager?" She asked.

Thinking for a minute, Burt replied "Well, being a carefree happy kid who thinks they're on top of the world and wanting to have more responsibilities; like what car they want, the newest song that talks about crap, what celebrities are married to who, who's boyfriend broke up with who, and you know, other stuff."

She smiled sadly. "If that's so, then that means I haven't been a teenager for almost six or seven years." Mari looked back up at Burt with watery eyes. "You see, Burt, right before my parents adopted me, my own biological mom committed suicide in front of me. When I was ten, my mom killed herself right in front of my eyes. And if what you said about teenagers is true, then I haven't been a teenager, or a child, since I was ten; I've been an adult for the past six years."

Burt sat there stunned, looking at the slender Vietnamese in front of him. "I…" Burt stumbled, speechless. "I'm so sorry, Mairead. Really, I didn't mean to… You don't have to tell me anything else if you don't want to."

Mairead once again smiled sadly. "I would prefer it if I didn't tell you right now. In time, yes; but not right now. Some of my… more painful memories are too much to bear right now." She looked back out the window at the sun. "To your second question, I try to wake up early to watch the sun rise. The sun is beautiful when it's rising or setting. It kinda reminds me how to appreciate everything other than the big things in life."

The two of them sat there for a minute before Burt stood up. "I have to go, I need to open my shop. You'll be okay, Mairead?"

She smiled, the light returning to her tired eyes. "Yeah, I'll be fine. You have a good day, alright, Burt?"

Burt smiled and bent down to hug her. She returned it with a smile. "See you later, Mairead. I'll see you this afternoon." And with that, he walked out the front door, seeing the orange sun with a new perspective.

* * *

Blaine woke up, feeling warm and cozy with Kurt's arms around him. He could hear the gentle noise of people talking a floor below them and the smell of food coming up through the open doorway. Blaine scooted closer to Kurt, their intertwined hands pressing against his chest. He lay there half drowsing until Kurt stirred. Kurt tightened his arm around Blaine's back, pulling him even closer.

Blaine opened his eyes halfway, smiling. He pulled his braced hand from under the blanket and brought up to Kurt's face. Being careful not to wake him, he trailed his fingertips along the smooth, pale skin of his forehead and cheek resting on the dark blue pillowcase.

Kurt smiled in his sleep. "Mmm… Blaine…" He mumbled, still clearly unconscious.

The Warbler smiled even wider as he kept running his fingers over his boyfriend's peaceful face. He ran his thumb over Kurt's knuckles, feeling the soft skin over the bumps of the joints.

The two of them stayed like that for a little over an hour, before the noise got louder. Kurt woke up to Blaine's eyes staring into his half opened ones. "Hello." Kurt breathed out, smiling sleepily. He then winced after he closed his mouth, from both pain and the taste of his morning breath.

"Morning, Kurt." Blaine smiled back.

"I see you slept well. How're you doing?" Kurt asked softly as he stretched his arms out.

Blaine rolled out of his arms and onto his back. He stared up at the ceiling, remembering the events of the day before. "Better, I guess. I think sleep helped. Sleeping with you, in your arms, helped keep most of the bad dreams away."

"Hey, come back here. I'm not done with you yet." Kurt said, reaching an arm over to take his boyfriend back into his arms. Blaine obliged, turning his body back into his open arms. "If it helps, we'll do the same thing when we're back at Dalton later tonight. At least until the nightmare stops, and after as well. Okay?"

Blaine sighed. "Are you sure? I just feel like I'm… I don't know, acting like a child who's afraid of the monster in the closet."

"Blaine Anderson, I've never been so sure in my life. The one thing I'm absolutely and eternally sure of, is my love for you. I love you, Blaine Anderson; and I would do anything for you." Kurt said softly. He kissed him on the lips softly.

He responded in kind, deepening the kiss between them. They finally broke apart, gasping for air. "Kurt, I love you. So much." He said smiling, his eyes slightly watering. "Ugh, what time is it?" Blaine said as he flopped back onto his back, throwing his left hand gently beside his head on the bed.

Kurt turned his head towards the digital clock on the nightstand. "Nearly ni – ni- nine." He yawned, stretching the word out. "Mercedes and the others are coming at eleven before we need to head back to Dalton by four to get there by six. You know Mari and Joey are going back to… her house as soon as they drop Lauren at the airport, right?" Kurt stumbled, not wanting to confuse Blaine.

Blaine was silent for a second. "Can we…" He started. "Do you think we can go to my house? Just for a little bit? I just need to grab something before we head back to Dalton." Blaine finished quietly.

Kissing him on his forehead, Kurt smiled sadly. "Of course, but only if I come with you. I don't want you to be alone in your house so soon after yesterday."

"Thank you… love." Blaine said softly.

Kurt chuckled at the name. "You know that if we start calling each other that, Jeff and Nick are going to start making fun of us."

"Oh screw them." Blaine smiled. "Jeff knows that if he bothers you, you'll burn that Linkin Park sweatshirt of his for sure this time."

"Oh Gaga, trust me. I would do much worse than burning that ridiculous sweatshirt of his." Kurt looked Blaine in the eye. "Love," he chuckled at the name. "I want to talk to you more, but if I'm going to be ready by the time Mercedes and Tina come, I need to shower and do my moisturizing routine."

Blaine groaned. "Can't you skip it for today?"

"If you want my face to wrinkle before I'm thirty, yes."

He laughed. "I'll love you all the same and more, wrinkles or no." Blaine kissed him before he got up. "I've got to shower, too. I can just go downstairs and eat while you're using the bathroom."

"I'll try to hurry a little bit." Kurt said, sitting up and grabbing his crutches since the cane was still in the car. "Hey, Blaine?"

He turned his head to look at his boyfriend. "Yeah?"

"I love you."

Blaine smiled widely. "I love you, too."

He laid there for awhile, his eyes closed as he listened to Kurt rummage through the suitcase Burt brought for him for clothes for the day. Once he heard the door to the bathroom click shut in the hallway, Blaine got up himself. Taking one of his crutches from the wall, he decided to do his physical therapy exercises; albeit, with his own modifications.

"Should you even be doing that?" A voice called from the doorway after he did an exercise traditionally done with both crutches. He looked up and saw his best friend.

Mairead arched an eyebrow at him. "You know if you push yourself too hard, you're going to set yourself back." She said.

Blaine shrugged, a little impatient at himself. "And you know that I hate being crippled."

"Oy…" Mari rolled her eyes, leaning on the doorway with her cane. "You're not crippled, you're injured. And you also know that there's a difference, Blaine."

"So? And you know how much I hate the time I've been off of both feet." He shot back at her playfully, running a hand through his hair. He pulled his hand back, grimacing at the gel residue.

Mairead rolled her eyes again, sighing exasperatingly. "Oh, never mind. Anyway, Mom's sent me up to wake the two of you. It's already half past ten."

"I'll be down in a minute. Just let me finish this and shower before she comes up here." Blaine said, gently standing on both feet. He grinned as she threw up her free hand in exasperation.

* * *

"Kurt!" Mercedes screamed, nearly plowing him over as Rachel opened the door to let in Mercedes and Tina.

"Careful, Mercedes." Rachel admonished. "He's still healing. I don't think any of want him back in the hospital. And I don't want my best gay to not be here to tell me that my dresses look absolutely stunning or fabulously terrific."

Tina rolled her eyes. "How're you doing Kurt? You look better than before." They walked into Rachel's dining room where her dads had arranged a series of fruit platters on the table.

Kurt laughed, leaning on his reacquired cane from Carole's car. "Well, that's what a good night sleep and a moisturizing routine can do."

"Where's Blaine? I thought he was staying with you." Mercedes asked as she picked up a strawberry from the plates of fruit.

"He's just in the shower. We kind of slept in a little late today after yesterday and all. How are you guys doing? How's the concert coming along? Did Mr. Schuester make you guys pick songs from Journey's catalogue?" Kurt asked innocently as he concealed his smirk.

They continued to talk as Blaine slowly came down the wooden staircase, taking one step at a time with both feet while clutching on the smooth handrail. Before he opened the door, he quietly cracked it open and peeked inside. Blaine smiled when he saw Kurt laughing, as two of the girls were arguing with each other. He opened the door fully and stepped into the warmly painted living room. "Hey, guys." Blaine said, putting a small smile on his face.

The girls each stood up and hugged Blaine gently while voicing their greetings. Blaine gave each one of them a warm embrace in return, his stomach faintly hurting from the pressure of Mercedes' tight hug. He sat down beside Kurt and gave him a kiss on the cheek as the girls aww'ed when Kurt blushed faintly.

"Judging from that, I take it you're better too, Blaine?" Mercedes asked from her place across the table from Kurt.

Blaine grinned. "Yeah. Hey, I wanted to thank you guys. For all you did yesterday." He said softly, giving each one of them a gentle smile. Picking up a blueberry, he rolled it between his fingers as the girls looked on sympathetically.

"Really, it was nothing, Blaine." Mercedes told him, chewing a piece of strawberry. "As long as it meant something to you, that's all that really matters."

"One question," Kurt asked, looking up from his pineapple chunks. "Who told you and how did you guys and the Warblers practice?"

The girls looked at each other, not knowing who would explain. "It was Carole, Kurt." Rachel said, putting down her fork. "Carole told us the song and then we listened to it on YouTube. Knowing that the boys couldn't do the background without reverting to drums and electric guitars,"

"Seriously, you should be glad you weren't there for the first rehearsal." Mercedes said flatly, rolling her eyes.

Rachel rolled her eyes at the memory of Finn adding a rock beat to the song. "Anyway, we figured it would sound better with an acapella background so we got in touch with the Warblers."

Kurt curiously listened as he twirled his fork around his fingers, accidently spraying Blaine with the pineapple juice. "But how did you guys practice? You know Westerville is two hours from Lima, right? I doubt Figgins would let you guys skip class just to travel there. Or vice versa."

"Well, we kinda used Skype to 'practice'" Tina used her fingers to emphasize. "It sort of worked, but then the lag time of the stupid laptop Mr. Schue brought in annoyed both of us after forty-five minutes. Plus, we couldn't really tune ourselves to the other 'cause of the weird sound alteration from Skype."

"You know how Finn and I were gone Thursday night?" Rachel asked. The two boys nodded as she continued. "All of us went to Dalton to practice with them. I have to say, Kurt, Dalton is _magnificent_. Now I know why you decided to betray us for the Warblers." She said, a little too sweetly.

"Rachel!" Mercedes and Tina said at the same time, angry and horrified.

Kurt sighed and rolled his eyes. "You know why I transferred, Rachel." He said quietly, remembering Karofsky. Kurt shuddered at his last encounter with the hulking football player.

All four of them continued to talk while Blaine listened mostly; just listening to the chatter of his boyfriend's old glee club girls. He felt happy as he watched Kurt laugh at them. Wondering how he was the luckiest person in the world to get him as his boyfriend.

Soon, it was time for the Mercedes and Tina to leave as it was nearly time for Blaine and Kurt to get back to Dalton for their first day back tomorrow.

"Call me tonight, white boy. We have some major catching up to do and just wasn't even a fraction of it." Mercedes told him as she hugged him, a little gentler than usual.

"Of cource, 'Cedes. I'll miss you so much." Kurt said into her black, currently slightly curly hair.

"You take care, Blaine. And if you need any legal help, just ask me and I'll ask my dad." Tina said as she hugged him.

"That's right, I forgot your dad's a lawyer." Blaine chuckled softly as he slung his braced left hand around her back and shoulders in a one armed hug, his right arm holding onto the crutch. "I'll be sure to call you. Thanks, Tina."

The two girls left and then the two boys and Rachel headed upstairs. Rachel helped Kurt pack up the two suitcases in their room as Blaine lay down on the bed, his arms splayed out as he tried to fight the pain in his stomach and leg. With the visit of the two girls, he didn't have time to take his morning meds; which included his painkillers and anti-nausea pills.

"Are you sure, Rachel?" Kurt asked as he leaned against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. He arched an eyebrow as Rachel tried to lift the suitcase. "You know I can just have Finn or my dad do it. Your arms are as skinny as Marc Jacobs' designer shoelaces."

She dropped the suitcase, it was only an inch off the ground, and huffed. "Well, I do need to keep my physique for glee club. I am the only reason why we're winning this year. I can't dance if I'm bigger than I am. No offense to Zizes, but I do need to stay like this to dance marvelously so we can keep winning."

"Rachel," Kurt began, "you're unbelievable sometimes, you know that?"

Rachel sniffed. "Well, how else would you word it?"

Blaine listened to them banter back and forth as he closed his eyes. He frowned as he saw an image of his mother underneath his eyelids. Taking a deep breath through his nose, Blaine tried to push back the feeling of being smothered by everything that's happened within the last few days. It felt like the weight he had been holding up with his willpower was weakening and was threatening to squish him into an infinite number of pieces. It felt like he was Hercules and Atlas hadn't come to take the globe from his shoulders yet.

He felt the mattress dip by his side and a shadow blocking out the light in front of his face. He opened his eyes into glasz eyes looking at him. "Love, we're about to leave. Are you okay?" Kurt asked, his eyebrows knitting up worryingly.

Blaine thought for a minute before answering. "No, I'm not." He sat up and buried his head in his arms, hiding his face from the boy he loved.

Kurt gently pried away the arms that were over his head. Blaine's face was already so pained and the look in his eyes only added to it. "Blaine, I know it's hard, love. I know." Like yesterday and all the days before, Kurt hugged Blaine tightly and closely. "Shh, it's okay. I love you." He murmured into his ear, stroking his back.

"I-I," Blaine sobbed out quietly. "I m-miss her, K-Kurt. I miss my mom."

"I know you do. I miss my mom too, Blaine. I miss her, too." Kurt whispered.

The two of them stayed like that until Mairead softly knocked on the doorframe, dressed in a plain black v-neck t-shirt and dark blue jeans, her hair in a simple low ponytail. She looked at them and smiled sadly. _We're just waiting downstairs._ She mouthed, as she leaned against the doorframe.

Kurt nodded his affirmative. He watched as the black haired girl walked out of sight. "Blaine, we have to go. But I promise, we'll talk when we're back at Dalton, okay?" He told him gently.

Blaine nodded, sniffling at this point and tears rolling down his face. His face cheeks and nose was red along with the rims of his eyes. Blaine shifted his black framed classes up his nose. "Okay."

Kurt helped him stand up, giving him his crutches as he himself held onto his cane. They descended the wooden staircase where the Berrys and Finn were saying good bye to everyone. Rachel hugged Kurt closely, if not a little too firmly. The Berry men both hugged Blaine tightly. "Blaine, if you need anything at all, please don't hesitate to contact us." Hiram said to him.

Blaine only nodded, not trusting his voice quite yet. He was passed off to Rachel who, a little shorter than he was, was on her tip toes and kissed him on the cheek. "Once it's summer, you're helping me pick out the perfect song to practice for all the musical theatre colleges for next year. Along with Kurt, of course."

"Of course." Blaine said, giving her a small smile.

They all said good bye and then trooped out to the army of cars, Finn was staying behind with Rachel and her dad so Blaine, Kurt, Carole, and Burt could ride together in Kurt's SUV. The ride to the Blaine's house and the Stryka house was uneventful, other than a few prank calls from Jeff and the rest of the Warblers who were excited for the two of them to come back; one of the calls hinted at a Katy Perry and P!nk mash-up before Kurt promptly hung up on the laughing voices on the other side. "Dad, can I use one of your wrenches when we get back to Dalton? I need to 'fix' Jeff's car for him." Kurt said flatly after the fourth time in nearly two hours.

Burt and Carole laughed, even Blaine managed a small smile. "Sorry, kiddo." Burt shook his head as he drove. They finally reached the lane where the Blaine and Mairead lived. Burt followed the red Pilot.

"Hello, Privet Drive." Blaine muttered dryly under his breath so that Kurt could only hear.

Kurt spluttered from the water bottle he was drinking out of and coughed while Blaine smirked and patted his back. They pulled up into the Stryka's concrete driveway. Joey, Lauren, and Mari got out of the Pilot and CR-V while Blaine and Kurt made their way out of the black SUV.

"What time do you need to be at the airport, Lauren?" Blaine asked as his crutches clicked when he walked into the foyer of the house.

"Around five. The flight leaves at six. But I might have to go earlier if I want to get through the damn security before the plane gets off the tarmac." She said, adjusting the strap of her backpack on her shoulder. "We have a little time ki- I mean a little time to do stuff." Lauren caught herself before she could say what the phrase usually is. "It's only around one. What do you guys want to do?"

"Can we maybe watch a Lord of the Rings movie?" Joey asked, subdued behind his sister on his crutches.

"Sure, Joe-shmoe." Lauren said as she put a hand on his shoulder, getting a small smile in return from him. "Let's watch Two Towers. I always liked that one over the others."

Mari huffed as all five of them made their way to her living room and flopped down on the comfy overstuff brown leather couches. "No, what about Return of the King?"

"How about we let Joey choose?" Kurt suggested, rolling his eyes at the two girls. For girls who act like tomboys, they sure had their girly moments.

Joey finally settled on Return of the King, saying that watching ghost skeletons was better than watching Aragorn fall over the side of a cliff. "Hey, Mari." Kurt whispered to her as Lauren loaded up the Blu-ray player. "Blaine and I need to do something at… the house next door before we head back to Dalton."

"Are you sure about that? So soon after yesterday?" She whispered back, a tone of concern lacing her voice.

Kurt nodded as minutely as he could, trying not to draw Joey or Lauren's attentions. "It's something he said he had to do alone."

"Do you need my dad to go with you?"

"No, I think my dad's coming with us." Kurt whispered quickly as Lauren was coming back to sit beside Mairead on the couch.

She nodded swiftly. "At least we get to see Gollum in this one trying to be the miserable creature he is before being a… cretin." Mairead laughed as Lauren sat beside her.

Kurt and Blaine got up. "You guys watch the movie for a bit. Blaine's feeling a little off. We'll see you guys in a bit, okay?" Kurt said as he helped Blaine up on his crutches.

Lauren looked at her brother worriedly. "You okay, Blaine? We don't have to watch Lord of the Rings if you don't want to."

Blaine gave her a small smile. "I'm fine. Just a little headache and I didn't take my meds yet so that might be why." He lied smoothly, feeling a pang of shame as he did so. "We'll be down in a bit, I just need to lie down."

They all nodded as they walked out of the spacious room. Both of the boys waited until the opening theme of the movie was loud enough that when they opened the garage door they wouldn't be heard. Burt was waiting outside with Carole and Jason for the two of them.

Jason had a grimaced as they came towards them. "Son," Jason said to Blaine. "Are you sure about this?" Burt had conveyed to them what Kurt told him before they left Rachel's house.

"I'm more than sure. I _need_ to before I head back to Dalton." Blaine said quietly, looking at his feet.

"Alright, but we're all coming with you. Just to be sure Matthew isn't in there." Burt said roughly, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket as they walked towards the white house next door.

Once inside the front door of the house, the two men wouldn't let their sons inside without quickly checking all the rooms first, making sure the despicable man wasn't in there.

"C'mon." Blaine uttered to Kurt after Jason called out to them from somewhere on the main floor. The two made their way somewhat quickly towards the master bedroom on the third floor. Kurt followed his boyfriend up the staircase, looking at all the pictures on the way up. There were several of Blaine, Joey, and Lauren on a boat somewhere with Matthew; a few of them were family portraits, taken at various time when the three of them were growing up; not to mention several beautiful of, what looked like, hand painted canvases of depictions of scenes from the Bible.

They finally reached the room, a wide open space with pretty windows and a huge closet. Blaine headed straight there and nearly dived into his mother's shoe rack. His eyes watered as he smelled her scent in the air from her clothes and possessions. Going to where she told him, Blaine found a small gray box underneath the farthest corner of the closet. The box itself was unremarkable except for the alphanumerical dials that held the case shut. "Kurt?" Blaine cried out softly, tears coming down his face. He couldn't help but cry, with all of his dead mother's clothes, shoes, and other accessories around him.

"Yeah, Blaine?" He said as he nearly ran into the room. Kurt was leaning on the doorframe of the bedroom to give his boyfriend some privacy. "Oh, no." He said sadly, taking in his crying state. "I knew it was too soon." Kurt lowered himself to the floor where Blaine collapsed in his arms, wrapping his arms around the hurting boy's shoulder and head. Sitting like that for several minutes, Kurt gently pried Blaine's fingers off of the side handle of the box, noting the lock. He took his hand in his and didn't care how hard Blaine was crushing his fingers. It wasn't until Blaine finally calmed down enough to let go of Kurt's hand did he look up at him. "Feel better?" Kurt asked softly.

Blaine shook his head, his loose curls bouncing on his head. "No, but let's go. I don't want Lauren and Joey to start noticing I'm gone." He started to get up, but Kurt held him down.

He shook his head. "Blaine, I don't want you to go yet. Not like this, we'll go when your eyes are less red, okay?" Kurt said, his eyes giving his boyfriend a look of understanding.

Blaine glanced down at his hands before nodding, allowing himself back in the sanctuary of Kurt's arms. "I love you, Kurt. I love you so much." Blaine whispered as he closed his eyes and felt the arms around him tighten.

Kurt kissed the side of his head. "I love you too, Blaine Anderson; and I will never stop loving you until I die and then beyond that as well."

It wasn't until Jason came up to tell them it was nearly time to take Lauren to the airport and the two of them back to Dalton did they get up from the floor.

"Kurt." Blaine said as quietly as he could, his eyes closed. "I…" He took a deep breath. "I don't want to see this place anymore. Can you j-just…?" He let the question hang.

"Of course, love." Kurt said softly as he pressed another kiss to his temple. The two of them walked out, Kurt leading the way towards the front door slowly as Blaine hung onto him, his eyes closed the whole way down.

_Sunday, four in the afternoon_

"You know I don't want to leave." Lauren said sadly. She had her backpack slung over her shoulder and a plane ticket in her hand. Jason had already checked in her duffle bag and gotten the ticket for her.

"And you know I don't want to leave _you_." Mari said, holding on to both of Lauren's forearms, the cane leaning against the pole behind her. "We both need time together, like this. Not over Skype or Facebook but, like _this_." Mari pulled her into a hug.

Lauren barely stifled a sob in the shorter girl's shoulder. "I love you, Mari. I don't want to leave." She said tearfully, her eyes and throat still raw from crying nearly the entire night in the past two days.

"Hey, it's okay. I love you too, Lauren. And I promise," Mairead told her quietly in her ear, still hugging her tightly. "When the school year's over, I promise we'll spend all the time we can together. I swear, this gets better. Not right now, and maybe not for a little while, but it gets better. I swear."

The two of them hugged again before Lauren broke the embrace to hug her brothers. "Call me, whenever you can, Joe-schmoe. I love you." She whispered into his ear when she was hugging him.

"I will. I'll call you tonight and tomorrow before I head to school." The younger boy said into her ear as he hugged her.

Blaine and Lauren didn't say anything while they hugged, just their tight embraces to each other said enough. They pulled back with tears in their eyes. "I love you." They both said at the same time. Both of them laughed a little.

"Jinx." Lauren softly told him, smiling a little bit.

She hugged her new guardians and sister one more time before heading off to the security line. Blaine, Joey, Kurt, Burt, Sarah, and Jason waited until she was safely past the security checkpoints before they left the somewhat crowded airport.

Driving the short distance between the airport and Dalton, the two boys sat quietly talking in the car. Once the two cars, the Pilot and the SUV, entered through the austere gates of Dalton Academy, Blaine heaved a sigh of relief. Kurt smiled and pressed his nose against the side of his face. "Welcome home." Kurt whispered.

Almost as soon as they parked, a pack of casually dressed boys stampeded their way towards them, calling out their names.

"Hold it or I will burn all of your precious and horribly looking X-Men graphic t-shirts!" Kurt yelled as they corralled themselves around the doors of the SUV. "And how the hell did you guys know we were coming back tonight?"

The boys looked at a specific blond haired Warbler next to an innocent looking Vietnamese girl. Kurt rolled his eyes as Blaine cracked up. _Honestly, are those two going to get together or not?_ He thought in exasperation. "Oh, never mind. If you're just going to stand there, make yourselves useful and carry our suitcases in? You know neither of us can lift more than five pounds right now." The boys scrambled around the open trunks of the two cars.

They were soon all sitting in Blaine's room, the two boys on the bed, Mairead in Blaine's chair by the desk, Jeff on the floor beside her, Joey sitting on his desk, and the rest of them spread round the room. They were listening to them talking about the past few weeks they had missed while the Hummels and Strykas talked with Dalton's administration, getting their medications to the school's doctor and talking about security. Since Matthew was still on the loose, the FBI decided to have an officer on the campus at all times while the two of them were there.

"Okay, boys, get out. We have to leave now and we want time with _our_ boys." Jason told them as the four adults entered the crowded room.

They all groaned and obliged; Mairead following Jeff to the doorway, their hands touching briefly as the said their good-byes to each other. Kurt arched an eyebrow as she closed the door behind her, faintly blushing beneath her Asian skin tone. She shifted her eyes up, looking at the ceiling and not at him. He nearly laughed out loud when she stumbled over a fold in the carpet.

"Call us if you need anything, alright, kiddo? I don't want to hear of you hurting yourself doing something you shouldn't." Burt said gruffly to his son.

"If I'm going to be careful, then what are you going to be? Now that I'm not home anymore to watch what you eat." Kurt shot back playfully as he hugged his dad.

"Oh, don't worry, sweetheart." Carole said as she kissed his forehead. "You know I'm here for him. And you."

Kurt hugged her tightly. "Thanks, Mom."

The two pairs of parents switched places, Jason and Sarah coming to his side as Burt and Carole went to Blaine. "Thank you, for all you've done for the both of us." Kurt told Sarah and Jason gratefully.

"It really was nothing." Sarah said as she gave him a hug rivaling Carole's warm embrace. "You call me if either of you are vomiting blood or feeling too much pain. I'll take care of it for you."

"And if you need gas, just call me." Jason said as he clapped Kurt on the shoulder, squeezing it.

Mairead made her way towards him after talking and hugging Blaine. "Listen, if he's having nightmares, just try to calm him down. Tell him to _call_ me if he absolutely needs too." She told him urgently as he was hugging Joey. "I know he's going to have nightmares. You text me every day to tell me how he's doing, alright?"

Kurt nodded, taking in her instructions carefully. "Thanks, Mari. For everything."

She smiled. "I should be thanking you. He's finally found someone he loves." The two embraced and then the six of them left the room, leaving the two boys alone.

Blaine let out a small cry, seeing his brother, new sister and parents leaving.

"Hey, it's okay. We'll see them as soon as the year is over. Or even next weekend if you want to." Kurt told him, stroking his back.

"I know, it's just… hard." He said.

"I know, Blaine, I know." Kurt intertwined his fingers in Blaine's.

The two of them sat on the bed and watched the second Harry Potter movie on his laptop until it was time for them to sleep.

"Do you want me to sleep here?" Kurt asked him as he watched his boyfriend yawn.

Blaine nodded, his eyes drooping. "If you want, I think I can manage myself tonight."

Kurt kissed him. "Let me get my pajamas and brush my teeth. I think I can skip my nightly moisturizing routine for today. _Only_ today." He teased him as he got up. "I'll be right back."

As Kurt reemerged into his room, Dalton's resident doctor came in and handed the two boys their meds before they went to bed. Blaine fell asleep, feeling his boyfriend's arms and the soft sounds of a certain movie soundtrack around him.

* * *

**Hey guys! Thank you so much for reading this chapter, even though in my mind it's a little crappy. Sorry for any inconsistencies in this one.**

**Once again, I thank you for the three reviews for last chapter for about two thousand hits on this story. Seriously, it's not that hard to leave behind a simple sentence or two for a story you've read. I'm not just saying this for myself, but for all authors on this site. It frustrates me that we all write so much for you guys to read but never get any feedback. Reviews are what power us to keep uploading. I know that the most annoy thing is to ask for reviews, but reviews are like air to authors; we need them to know that what we're writing is working for you guys.**

**So please, review. Thank** **you.**

**1-3-11**


	25. Chapter 25

Blaine opened his eyes, blinking blearily at the ugly sound of an alarm clock trumpeting out of the holes on the back of it. It was seven-thirty, an hour before classes started. He groaned and reached a hand out to touch Kurt's. To his dismay, he didn't find anything but empty air; instead there was a note on the pillow next to him. Reaching with his still-braced hand, Blaine picked it up. Getting his glasses with the other hand, he poked himself in the eye trying to put them on. Finally, when the white spots disappeared, he read the note.

_Love,_

_I'm just getting ready if you wake up and I'm not here. Sarah texted me to tell me that she arranged it so you could have first period off and we both have last period off. I'll bring you coffee from the cafe if I don't see you in the dining hall._

_I love you._

_-Kurt_

He smiled and rubbed his thumb over the "I love you" at the bottom, feeling the curves of Kurt's cursive handwriting pressed into the post-it note. Laying there, he stared up at the ceiling above his bed drowsily; thinking how grateful he was to his new… _Sarah, not mom; not yet._ Blaine thought as a wave of emotion tried overcome him. He took off his glasses, flinging them carelessly on the mattress beside him, and covered his eyes with his arms, trying to calm himself before he broke into a new storm of tears and mucus. As his breathing slowly evened out, Blaine heard the door open and the lamp on his desk being switched on. The bed dipped with the weight of a body laying down next to him.

"Good morning, love." A voice said close to his ear.

Blaine uncovered his head enough for Kurt to kiss him on the cheek but not enough for him to see his eyes; which he was sure looked red. "Morning." He tried to tell him in the happiest tone he could manage.

"I brought you coffee. Medium drip with whipped cream with mixed in cinnamon, of course." Kurt said as the bed shifted when he grabbed the cup off of the night stand for Blaine.

Blaine sighed heavily and fully took his arms off of his head, reaching for his glasses. Looking around with blurry eyes, he found his black half framed glasses and sat up with his back against the head board. He smiled when Kurt came into focus, holding a familiar beige cup from the cafe emitting a delicious smell. Blaine took a sip, sighing as the liquid warmed his body as it slipped into his stomach.

"Better?" Kurt leaned on his arm on his side next to him, sipping his own cup. He wore only his white dress shirt, the tie loosely around his neck, the charcoal dress pants, black socks, and the blue and red blazer on the back of Blaine's desk chair. His hair was styled in his usual way, parted on the right side of his head with a quarter of the amount of gel that Blaine uses in the morning.

Blaine smiled. "Much. Thank you, Kurt." He took another sip of the delicious medium drip. "Today's going to be torture. I feel like my brain's deflated, no matter how much homework I did."

"You'll be fine. Just don't stress about it, the teachers'll understand." Kurt said as he sat back up on the side of the bed, cross-legged, and sipped from his latte. "And besides, we're back with the Warblers after classes."

Blaine shrugged as he reached for his laptop, wincing as the motion stretched the scar tissue from his gut. He turned it on, hoping for good news on the news stations. Kurt looked on silently until it was almost time for him to go to his first class.

"You'll be okay for the next hour and a half?" Kurt asked as he slipped his shiny black dress shoes on.

Blaine nodded as he stared at the brunette's legs, trying to figure out what was wrong with what he was seeing. "Wait, where's your brace? And your cane?"

Kurt smiled secretly. He lifted his pant until it went up to his mid-thigh to reveal a knee brace. "I heal fast. The doctor said I could wear this instead of the cast for whenever I'm walking around. I still have to use the damn cane, it's by the desk, but at least I don't have to wear the brace until nighttime. And I'm getting sick of the cane; I'm just carrying it around in case I need it, or the need to whack Jeff and Nick when I'm in the chem labs with them over comes me." He rolled his eyes.

Blaine sighed. "You're lucky, I guess." He picked at a strap on his brace.

"Hey, just think of it this way." Kurt told him softly. "At least in practice, you get to sit out while David drills us in his latest choreographical disaster slash extravaganza. Then again, I get to sit out with _you_." He kissed him gently on the forehead.

The curly haired Warbler smiled sadly. "I love you." He reached a hand up to touch Kurt's cheek and brought his face down to kiss him sweetly on the lips. "Now go, I don't want you to be late for history with all the time we've been gone."

Kurt smiled back as he put on his blazer and buttoned the first gold circle. "You'll be okay? I'm coming back before second so we can go to Calculus together and look fabulous when we enter the room to applause fit for an emperor. Oh, c'mon," Kurt said jokingly when he saw Blaine's face. "You know Sarles is going to have everyone welcome us back one way or another."

"I know. It's… just going to be a little lonely without you here for an hour and a half." Blaine said quietly.

Kurt kissed him once more, a longer time with a fierceness Blaine thought he might have felt from him before. "Text me if you need anything, I mean it. Heckland's going to be boring as ever." He looked him in the eye. "I love you, Blaine Anderson, and I won't stop even if you asked me to."

Blaine chuckled. "Okay, I will and I love you. Now _go_. You're going to be late."

Kurt chuckled and grabbed his cane around the middle, twirling it while walking steadily on both feet out of his dorm room, closing his door on the way out.

Falling on his back onto the pillows again, he back towards himself. Blaine opened his email and replied to a few that Mari and Lauren already sent to him. He sighed, reading one from Lauren that asked him to Skype her tonight after his last class.

Shutting his laptop, but not powering it down, he lay there with his hands behind his head. Blaine thought about what had happened yesterday with the closet and his mom. He got up and slowly swung his legs over the side of his bed before crouching down, his stomach twanging slightly but no pain, and grabbing the small gray hard plastic box with the alphanumerical lock closing it shut. Blaine played with the lock, trying to remember what his mother told him. "… put my name in the lock…" He muttered to himself. Turning the dials to B-L-A-I-N-E and let it stay there for a second, Blaine tried to press the two square black buttons on either side of the lock but it remained steadfastly locked. He knit his eyebrows together, bemused. Blaine knew his mother told him to put his name in the lock.

After trying a few other combinations, putting his name in backwards, putting the names of Joey and Lauren and even his fath- the bastard, his birthday month, Miranda's maiden name, and the names of her parents, he swung the box onto the mattress dangerously close to his laptop. Blaine glared at the small plastic container, frustrated with tears leaking out of the corner of his eyes. "What name are trying to tell me to put in, Mom?" He growled and throwing his fists down on the bed, not caring out the pain protesting in his left forearm. A tear dropped onto the case, making the spot where it splashed a darker gray than the rest of the box.

Blaine let his head slump back onto his pillows after he tucked the box safely away under his nightstand. He lay on his stomach, trying not to cry as he had been the last couple of days. Exhaling slowly, he lifted his head to see that he only had half an hour before Kurt came back so they could go to Calculus. He rolled over back onto his back and adjusted the glasses on his face.

Stepping over to his closet, without his crutches, he opened the door to fetch a pair of charcoal pants, a pressed white dress shirt, and a blazer. Blaine frowned as he grabbed one; he usually had five but his closet only showed him four of the navy blue and red edged jackets. _Oh, yeah. The other one is the one the bastard shot the hell out of._ He remembered as he buttoned up the dress shirt. Blaine tried to neatly tie the striped tie but could only manage an extremely sloppy knot since he didn't want to take his brace off because of the pain radiating in his fingers from where he had slammed it against the bed earlier. He sighed, Kurt would have to fix it for him when he came.

Sitting down at his desk, he gathered his binders and put it in his brown leather messenger bag. _Well, at least the police gave me back my bag._ He thought. The police had given Kurt and him their bags back after concluding that the two messenger bags didn't hold any evidence relevant to the case. Instead of dropping them off at the Berry household, they had given them back to Dalton and back in their dorm rooms until they returned. Blaine opened his laptop, staring at a picture on Facebook of him and Mairead when they were both at all-night cancer fundraiser last summer.

"Hey, ready to go?" A voice asked as the door opened.

Blaine closed out of his Firefox browser and powered down his laptop before putting it away on the sliding tray under his desk's surface. He smiled as Kurt came in. "Yeah, could you tie my tie for me, again? I kinda did a bad job of it."

"You would think that three years of this would solve the problem." Kurt's lips twitched into an amused half-smile as he brought his hands up to Blaine's throat.

"Well, this is the first time I've had to tie it with a brace." Blaine said as he felt the tie move around the collar of his shirt on the back of his neck as Kurt adjusted the length before quickly and neatly tying it off and buttoning the blazer for him.

"C'mon, let's get to class." Kurt said as he made to grab Blaine's crutches.

He stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Wait." Blaine looked pointedly down at Kurt's black cane in his hand. "Let me use that instead."

"Blaine, you're going to hur-"

"No, I'm not." Blaine said stubbornly. "I've been doing PT on my own. I can stand on my own two feet well enough. And I'm getting sick of the damn crutches. The only one who actually still needs them is my brother, not me." Kurt still looked skeptical. "Kurt, I'm fine. And the guys won't let me fall; in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't five of them around me at all times. After what I've been through." He said the last part more to himself than to Kurt.

Kurt sighed, rolling his eyes. "Oh, fine. Just don't blame me if you _do_ fall and break something, again." He handed him the cane and adjusted his messenger bag on his shoulder.

* * *

The rest of the morning in went well, more than quite a few Dalton boys welcomed the two of the back when they were in class and the painted mural hallways. The teachers were more than understanding when Blaine didn't know the answers to their questions. It made Blaine a little uneasy as some of the teachers he didn't work well with gave him looks of sympathy and pity as he came up to them to ask when to make up his missed tests. Kurt managed to help him stave off most of the questions of what happened to the two of them, even though a few did manage to get some clues out of them. But mostly they asked what they did in the four weeks they were off of Dalton's campus.

During lunch, both Blaine and Kurt walked into the dining hall and all the Warblers cheered for them as they came towards their table. Blaine smiled widely as he received their hugs and fist bumps, wincing a little as some of them were a little harder than he expected and wobbled on his right leg and Kurt's cane, nearly losing his balance. "Alright, I missed all of you guys, too! Let me eat and listen to what's happened to _you guys_ in the last four weeks Kurt and I have been in Malibu." Blaine joked as Kurt got lunch for the both of them. The sat down next to each other and listened as they told him trivial things. Blaine put a smile on his face and tuned out much of his friends' chatter, feeling depressed as he ate his chicken salad. Lunch soon ended and they all went their separate ways to the classrooms, leaving Kurt and Blaine alone momentarily.

"Are you in pain? Don't lie to me, Blaine." Kurt said in a low voice. There were still some boys lingering in the echo-y room.

"Yes," Blaine whispered. "But I'll go to the health office after I'm done here. I promise." He told him in an empty voice.

Kurt raised both of his eyebrows at him. Blaine nodded to his unspoken skeptical query. "Really, I will."

Sighing, Kurt kissed him. "Alright, I'll see you at Warbler practice after last period. I love you."

Kissing him back and giving him a smile, the light not reaching his eyes, Blaine nodded again as he squeezed Kurt's hand. "I love you, too."

Blaine watched his boyfriend walk confidently on both feet before he lurched to his own feet with the help of the cane. He winced as a spear of pain lanced up his leg. Rubbing his thigh, he slowly hobbled to his humanities class.

Sitting down at his desk, Blaine looked up and saw Jeff and Nick walking towards him. He groaned good-naturedly, welcoming his two friends. "Finally, what did you guys do when I was gone? I was getting worried when I didn't hear any stories of mixing Mentos and Diet Coke before putting it under someone's car."

The three of the talked while waiting for the teacher to come in. Blaine opened his notebook and rested his chin on the back of his right hand, smiling as he loved this class and missing the talk of Delphi and ancient Grecians.

* * *

Blaine sighed as he lay on his back in his dorm room. Last period had just started and Flint and Wes had accompanied him back to his room as they also had their last periods off. He spread his arms out on the mattress, looking like a starfish but with his legs still dangling over the side of the bed.

His Android vibrated in his pocket. Reaching his hand into his pocket, he adjusted his glasses on his nose and saw that it was Mairead calling him. "Hello?" He answered in a curious tone.

"Hey, you." She answered happily. "How're you doing?"

"Fine, I guess. You?"

"Eh, school and all that crap. How's Kurt?"

"Fine, he's in class right now. You know that it's-"

"Last period at Dalton right now? Yeah, I know." Mairead finished for him, laughing. "Mom just wanted me to remind him that his PT appointment is this Friday but he's not picking up his phone."

"I think he's in his French class. He never answers his phone during that, no matter if you call or text him. Trust me, I learned the hard way." Blaine rolled his eyes as he remembered Kurt nearly steamrollering him after that class when he first transferred to Dalton. "Something along the lines of 'being immersed in the language' or something like that."

Mairead laughed and Blaine smiled, realizing how much he missed his best friend even though it had only been about twenty hours since he'd last seen her. "I wish I could feel the same way about Spanish, I hate that class so much. I already have two languages in my head; if I add a third, I'm going to start speaking the wrong language to everything."

"And how does that differ from learning how to swear in Italian?" Blaine asked logically as he grinned, even though she couldn't see him.

"Well, at least people don't know that I'm swearing! They'll just think that I'm the freak of the school as usual." She said casually.

"Oh, c'mon. You know you're not the freak. Isn't there a jock somewhere who doesn't know what zero times zero is?"

"…true." Blaine could hear her smiling at the other end along with a distant voice in the background. "Hey, I have to go, but I just wanted to call to remind Kurt about his PT session this Friday."

"I'll pass it along after he calls you to yell. I'll talk to you later?" Blaine said as he sat up.

"Yep. Love you, Blaine." She said before hanging up.

"… love you too, Mari." Blaine whispered into the dead silence of the phone.

He lay back down after setting his phone on his nightstand, closing his eyes and enjoying the softness of the comforter under him. It only felt like two seconds that he was napping before a certain someone lay down beside him. Blaine slowly opened his eyes and saw a brunette by his side. "Hello, love."

Kurt looked up and smiled at him in his dazzling grin. "Hello."

"Ugh, what time is it?" Blaine yawned. "Is it time for Warbler practice?"

"In a little bit. I thought I'd come in and cuddle with my boyfriend." Kurt said as he tucked himself under Blaine's arm, not caring about his clothes. "I'd would have thought you'd take your blazer off, Blaine?" He asked as he ran a hand over his stomach until his fingers hit the little golden button, unbuckling it from the other side of the blazer.

Blaine shrugged. "I kinda just came in, talked to Mari when she called, and fell asleep afterwards."

"Mmm, yes. I need to call her and teach her about phone etiquette when I'm in French." Kurt murmured sleepily.

"You know she called to remind you of your PT this Friday, right? It was all in good intent."

"Mmm…"

The two of them lay dozing until it was time for Warbler practice. Kurt left to change out of the uniform and Blaine to change in private. Reaching the Warbler's room, he saw all of his friends sitting on the leather couches in casual clothes, much like them. A few of the smiled and greeted the two of them.

David and Wes ran rehearsal as usual, but without Kurt and Blaine. They sang with them still, but not yet doing the choreography. Kurt groaned and covered his face as he saw them doing their best funk "moves". Blaine only laughed as they tried to out-impress each other, used to this.

All of them rehearsed well into the evening. Blaine feeling happier than usual as he was back with his friends.

"Today was a good day." Kurt said from his place on Blaine's bed with his Latin notebook on his stomach.

"Totally agree." Blaine said, his eyes still on his laptop screen. "It was nice being back here. I kinda missed it. Okay, really missed it." He laughed after Kurt coughed, sounding like "A lot". Blaine joined him on his bed, hobbling over with the cane, getting used to walking with it.

"You know, today would have been a lot less enjoyable if you weren't here with me." Kurt said as he smiled a kiss onto Blaine's lips.

Blaine likewise smiled back as he kissed his boyfriend. "I know. I love you."

The two of the stayed like that until they fell asleep, not realizing it until they were unconscious, dreaming of the other.

* * *

**Guys, I really don't want to yell at you for reviews, but please, it only takes three seconds to write a quick word. Thanks.**

**Kudos to anyone who catches the references to a certain musical in this chapter. ;) Sorry, it's so short! It's kind of a filler chapter. I promise next one will be _much_ longer and I will try to get it uploaded on Tuesday!**

**1-6-11**


	26. Ain't No Way

**WARNING: Strong profanity**

_Friday, ten at night_

Blaine slammed his calculus notebook down, frustrated with the equations. He slumped in his chair, stretching his left leg under the richly stained wooden desk.

"You're stuck, too?" Jeff asked him grumpily. "I can't get the derivative of it. Damn it."

Blaine groaned, his head starting to hurt. Yes, he did like being back at Dalton, but Calculus was killing him slowly with an upcoming test along with two other tests he still had to make up. "Don't remind me. I still have to make up the last two units of tests. How the hell did Kurt get both of them before I did?"

"I dunno, maybe he's Professor Xavier or something? Maybe he read all the teachers' minds when you guys were recovering and did the work subconsciously." Jeff wondered out loud, which made Blaine snort. "Speaking of him, where is he?"

Blaine shrugged. "He's doing PT and went home for the weekend. Something about having girl time with his friends from McKinley and helping them with their wardrobe selections for their benefit concert."

"How come you're not going ho- I mean, back to Mairead's house?" Jeff caught himself before too dark a look came over Blaine's face.

Sighing, Blaine told him "I just need some time for myself. I love Kurt and all, but sometimes a guy's gotta have some alone time, you know what I mean?"

Jeff nodded, understanding. "Dude, having three sisters, _totally_ understand that. In the summer, I nearly have to kill myself every time they paint their nails or something… it sucks having younger twin sisters and another even younger one. Want to come over this summer and help me burn their Barbies?"

Blaine laughed. "Gladly. Those dolls creep me out so much. Tell me again why they absolutely need to use human hair?"

The two of them talked like that for a bit, the math homework lay abandoned. Blaine tried to keep the conversation going, but his headache got worse and his stomach was protesting at the lasagna he ate earlier at dinner. "Hey, I'll be right back. I just need to use the bathroom."

Jeff stood up from where he was laying on the rug by Blaine's bed. He straightened his grey shirt with green sleeves as he nodded. "I should probably go, it's getting late and I want sleep."

"See you tomorrow then?" Blaine said, trying to hold the smile on his face as he fought the urge to sprint to his bathroom.

"Yeah, see you at breakfast." Jeff grinned and walked out, his books and cell phone in hand.

Once the door was shut, Blaine ran as fast as he could, not caring about his leg, into the bathroom and vomited into the toilet. He expelled everything that had substance in his stomach and more. Blaine stared as the mixture perfumed the air with half digested pasta and tomato sauce. Vomiting a little more, he flushed the toilet and leaned his back against the bathtub with his eyes closed. Groaning, he tried to feel for his cell phone in his jean pocket but the remembered that he forgot it on his desk. He got up slowly, using the tub and the counter of his sink to pull himself up. Blaine limped out, hanging onto the wall until he reached the desk and sat down heavily. Pulling up Mairead's number, he texted her. _Hey, u there?_

He put his head in his arms, his hand still holding his Android, and closed his eyes while trying to beat down the nausea. His phone vibrated a few seconds later.

_What's up?_

Slowly moving his fingers on the touch screen, his chin leaning on the cool surface of his notebook, he texted her back. _I just threw up. Don't tell your mom. What do I do? Should I take the meds or not?_

Her response was nearly instantaneous. _ WTH did u eat? Don't tell me Flint was cooking again._

"How…?" Blaine whispered to himself as he read it. _Just lasagna for dinner tonight, I wasn't feeling 2 hungry. It should have been fine, though. I've had it loads of times and Jeff was just here and he didn't look like he had a problem with it._

_Dude, u've got what we call, 'food poisoning'_. _Just take the meds with the absolute minimum of water as u can and don't eat anything else 2night or until lunch tomorrow. Just drink OJ and a bit of toast for breakfast tomorrow._

Blaine stared at his phone before texting back. _But how? No 1's ever gotten food poisoning before. All the food's probably safely cooked to perfection like it always is._

_Hmm… were u there when u got the plate?_

_No, Wes got it for me since I was saying good bye to K before he went home for PT and the weekend._

It was a little bit before she texted back. Blaine nearly dozed off when he felt the familiar buzz in his hand._ Sorry, my mom was just asking me a question. Maybe it was out for a little bit or something?_

_Oh, we'll figure it out later. Just go take your meds and sleep. I'll text u tomorrow?_

Blaine sighed before slowly moving his fingers lethargically across the smooth surface of his phone. _Yeah, I'll text you if I feel worse. Goodnight, Mari._

_Night!_ She texted back to him quickly.

He slowly sat up, leaning into the back of his somewhat cushioned desk chair. Blaine slowly stood up and walked over to his bathroom again, wrinkling his nose at the lingering smell. He had finally convinced the doctor in Dalton's health office to let him have his med in his bathroom, reasoning that it took too long with his crutches and legs to go down several flights of stairs and elevator was on the other side of the dorm building. Blaine blindly grabbed the correct orange tinted bottles and shook out a pill from each before swallowing them with the smallest sips of water.

Collapsing into his bed after changing into his long sleeved t-shirt and sweatpants he wore to sleep, he sighed at the softness. Blaine slowly swung his legs onto the mattress and under the covers, shivering even though he felt warm. He tried going to sleep but something seemed wrong with how he was sleeping. Blaine tried to hug a pillow to his gut, trying to have his arms hold something tangible. As he unsuccessfully tried to drift off, he breathed in deeply through his nose. His eyes opened as he realized why he couldn't sleep. Kurt's scent of lotion and shampoo lingered on the pillow he was holding.

Just as he was about to sit up, his phone vibrated on the nightstand. It was Kurt calling him. "Hello?" Blaine said raspily, clearing his throat afterwards.

"Hello, love." Kurt's voice sounded. "You okay? You sound a little off."

"I'm… sort of okay. I threw up." Blaine admitted, rubbing his face as he talked.

"Do you need me to come back to Dalton? Are you okay? Because I can wake Finn to drive me back if you need me to." Kurt said worriedly. Blaine could just see his eyebrows knitting up from his room in Lima.

"No. I think I'll be fine. I texted Mari a little bit ago. She thinks I have food poisoning."

"Did Flint cook something again? I swear-"

"No! Flint did not cook anything that I ate! And how did she know about that? She asked the same thing." He asked, getting a little annoyed.

"I didn't tell her. It was probably… never mind. It wasn't me, I promise." Kurt said convincingly from the phone into Blaine's ear.

"Oh, never mind. Anyway, she just told me not to eat anything until lunch tomorrow other than toast and some juice. It's probably something in the lasagna I ate for dinner. Kurt, I'll be fine, don't worry about me." Blaine sighed, swinging his left arm and braced hand across his face to block out the dim light coming in from the window. "You go to sleep. I promise I'll call you if I get worse, I already promised the same thing to Mairead."

"Really?" Kurt said flatly.

"I promise. Call her if you don't believe me." Blaine grinned slightly into his phone. "Hey, I really do promise. Now go, I know you're usually tired after PT. Have fun with the girls tomorrow, tell them I say hi. I love you."

"I'm holding you to that. I love you too, Blaine Anderson. I'll see you Sunday." He said back.

Blaine smiled as he hung up and put his phone back on his night stand. Hugging the pillow closer to his body, another wave of nausea threatened to erupt from his stomach. He flipped over onto his chest and stomach, hoping the pressure would subdue the feeling. Blaine breathed in again through his nose and once again smelled Kurt on the pillow.

Sighing, he sat up on the edge of the bed. Walking over to his desk with only his own two feet, he grabbed his laptop and charger and opened his door slightly. Blaine checked the hall before silently opening the door to the dorm next door, Kurt's room. He sighed as he lay down on his boyfriend's scarlet three thousand thread count Egyptian cotton sheets. He, like before, swung his legs under the blanket and relaxed into the mattress. Reaching over for a moment, he plugged in the chord for his charger and turned on the laptop. Blaine shifted the pillow to support his neck more as it booted up.

As he clicked on his YouTube bookmark in his browser, he typed in "McKinley High School" after thinking about his slight visit last fall when he came to help Kurt confront Karofsky about kissing him. The results came up and Blaine scrolled down the page, passing a few videos students had made for their Spanish classes, business classes, English classes, etc. He clicked on one that was titled "McKinley High School Sixth Consecutive Cheerleading National Title" after he saw the blond woman in a red track suit at Regionals. Clicking on it, it was a news segment showing two of Kurt's New Directions classmates and someone _quite_ familiar to Blaine's eyes. "No freaking way." Blaine whispered, his eyes widening under his glasses. He slowly smiled as he watched the whole video and bookmarked the link for when Kurt got back on Sunday night. Watching a few more videos of various things, such as a skateboarding dog to an incredible dancing violinist, his stomach settled down to a point where the nausea went away for the most part.

Blaine yawned as he finally started to feel sleepy and powered down his laptop. Flipping the lid down, he set it on Kurt's nightstand; flinching when he knocked over several bottles of lotions and moisturizers to the floor, he ignored them. Blaine pulled the blanket over his shoulders and fell asleep with Kurt's scent in the pillows comforting him.

* * *

Something tickled his cheek as he slowly woke from his sleep. Blaine smiled as he drew his arms closer to himself, trying to keep the warmth of the bed to his body. "Stop that. I'm still sleeping." He murmured, squirming to try and dissuade whoever was doing that. Suddenly, a somewhat familiar clicking noise sounded. Blaine froze, now not feeling a tickling sensation but the cold, metal point of something on his face. He kept his eyes closed and his breathing even as he slowly turned his body to lie on his back. Opening his eyes a fraction, the unforgiving gray barrel of a gun was pointed at his nose, a figure wearing all black in the dark room holding it to his face.

"Say one word, you and everyone in this building is dead." A man's voice said lowly. "Did you really think that I would leave you and the rest of your damn _friends_ alive?"

_No…_ Blaine thought, a sinking feeling in his stomach. Opening his eyes slightly more but not wide enough for the man to see, so he hoped, Blaine looked on in horror as he saw a black haired girl, a taller boy with wavy black hair, and a pale brunette tied up and taped across their mouths on the ground in front of the bed. They all seemed unconscious, slumped against each other or laying down on the carpet in painful positions. His breath caught in his throat as he opened his eyes fully. Blaine stared cross-eyed at gun pointed in his face. "You know what? I think you did, because you're too much of a fucking son of a bitch who doesn't care about anyone other than yourself, _Dad_." Blaine shouted to his face as he scooted quickly away on the bed from him.

Matthew laughed darkly. "You asked for it." He turned the gun away and shot someone on the ground, the gun expelling an ungodly loud bang as it fired.

"NO!" Blaine screamed, scrambling out of the bed only to discover that his feet were tied at the ankles. He dragged himself off the end of the bed, falling heavily on the ground as the gun quickly shot another bullet into someone else. Blaine pulled himself to protect the closest body he could touch, draping himself over them. "Stop it, please! Kill me, not them! ME!" He shouted as he felt the warm body beneath his arms and chest.

Laughing manically again, his father shot another round into Blaine's leg, the same one he shot before.

Blaine felt nothing, the adrenaline blocking everything out; making him focused one thing as he looked at the blood flowing from the heads of the black haired girl and the boy who looked similar to him. "Why, Dad, why?" He whispered brokenly at the man in black.

Matthew didn't answer, instead shooting a bullet into the warm object beneath his left hand. The brunette's forehead exploded with sticky wet liquid as the impact sent shockwaves through his left hand.

"NO! KURT!" Blaine shouted, agonized. He lurched forward to cover his now still form with his own body even more. "You monster. You sick, fucking, cruel, piece of shit!" Blaine screamed as Matthew crouched down to his level.

The man laughed softly as he rested the gun point-blank on his son's forehead, brushing a few curls aside to make room on his skin. "Well, now you know why. Because of you."

Blaine closed his eyes as a bang sounded and shook his body as he felt himself falling to the ground.

* * *

"Blaine!"

He felt his name being called from far away, his body still being shaken. It was as if the afterlife was torturing him by being cruel.

"God dammit! Blaine, wake up! Wake up, for fuck's sake! It's me, Wes. God dammit, wake up!" A voice shouted.

Blaine could hear another sound, nearly overpowering Wes' voice; a sort of screaming with what sounded like words mixed in. It sounded out of place with his friend talking to him. The shaking wouldn't stop either as all three sensations nearly made him black out.

"Blaine, wake up! You're okay. Kurt's okay, we're all okay!" Another boy's voice said from close to him.

Blaine suddenly realized that the screaming was coming from him, his own throat. He opened his eyes fully only to have bright white lights blind him. Blinking rapidly, Blaine saw a group of boys around him; some of them were on the bed while Wes and David were right in front of his face.

"Blaine, you're okay. It's just us." David said calmly, his hand on Blaine's shoulder. "We heard you screaming when Heckland told us to go bed after the Halo party."

He nodded, closing his eyes and covering half of his face with a shaking hand. Blaine took a deep breath before saying, "Did anyone else… hear me?"

"No, I think it's just us. Trent and Flint had to break through the door to get in here." Wes said quietly from the foot of the bed. "Blaine, what's going on? We've… never heard you this upset before."

"It's… it's just a nightmare. I'm fine." Blaine murmured, the nausea coming back up. "Seriously guys, I'm fine. Go to sleep, you guys have that assisted living home performance tomorrow."

"But Blaine-" Thad started from somewhere behind Flint and Trent.

"No, I'm fine. Either you guys go or I'm not going to try and sleep." Blaine said firmly, his hand still covering his face and eyes. "You guys need sleep if you don't want to sound like a bunch of hung over old men."

A few of the boys chuckled, some of them rolling their eyes. Most of the boys said good night to Blaine before heading out, Flint and Trent gingerly shutting Kurt's door and making close shut as best as they could. Only Jeff and David stayed as everyone went to their own rooms.

"Blaine, this is serious. We all are really worried for you. Does Kurt know about this? Do your par- I mean, Mairead's parents know about this? You screaming in your sleep?" Jeff asked him.

"… only Kurt knows. I don't want the others to know, _especially_ Mairead. They already have enough on their plate with the legal issues and all. Kurt only found out because I told him I can't sleep without him." Blaine told them, hesitating.

The three of them stayed silent for a few minutes, digesting the information. "We should probably get to bed, Jeff. Blaine, are you sure you'll be okay alone?" David questioned, a slightly worried expression on his face.

"Once again, I'll be _fine._ Just leave the lights on when you leave." Blaine said raspily, his voice restrained as he tried to keep from spewing vomit on his two friends.

He could feel the mattress bouncing up as David and Jeff stood up. "Hey guys," he stopped them, "thanks, really. I mean it."

"Any time, Blaine. Anything for another Warbler." Jeff said, a little… sadly, Blaine inferred from his tone of voice.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow after the performance. Have a good time." Blaine gave his best smile that he could manage.

He opened his eyes and watched, blurrily, as the two boys walked out of the busted door. Like before, as soon as the door was somewhat closed to the best extent, he dragged himself to Kurt's bathroom and opened the lid to the toilet. He heaved into the bowl, a few more remnants of his now regrettable dinner coming up along with the acid in his stomach. Blaine leaned his head on his arm on the rim of the toilet, tired just from vomiting again. _Seriously? I don't think food poisoning would be this bad… at least Lauren wasn't like this after she told me about the time she ate the potato salad at her French camp last summer._ He closed his eyes, trying to muster up the energy to stand up.

Blaine stayed there for what felt like hours before he actually could stand up. Hanging onto the towel bar, he slowly used his weakened legs to lean against the wall. Wiping his mouth on his sleeve, Blaine flushed the toilet; wincing at the sound as he suddenly found that the lights were too bright. Blaine squinted as he made his short way over to the sink. He automatically filled up Kurt's clear glass cup with cold water and rinsed his mouth out, spitting out the taste of his vomit into the sink. Looking around, Blaine grabbed a small white plastic bin on top of Kurt's counter and dumped out the small white rectangular sponges.

He walked quite slowly back into the room. As soon as he sat back down on the bed, Blaine put the bin on top of his laptop; just in case he had another urge to regurgitate his dinner again. Blaine pulled Kurt's comforter over his shaking body, even though he still felt warm despite the cold water he splashed onto his face when he was in the bathroom. Sighing, he turned on his side as his stomach rolled turbulently at the movement. He closed his eyes and slowly drifted off into a disturbingly dreamless sleep.

* * *

_Saturday, one o'clock_

Blaine could feel fingers running along his forehead as he drowsily came to. He curled, shaking, tighter into himself and tried to fall back into the inviting darkness. Hearing murmurs, he couldn't make out the words but they sounded worried. Blaine could feel the weight of the blanket being tucked around his shaking body as he fell back asleep.

He woke again to a banging sound and bolted upright in the bed, his eyes snapping open. He squinted as he saw two men at the entrance holding the door and a hammer. One of the muttered an apology and went back to banging on the hinge of the door. The sound made Blaine wince and hold his already aching head. Suddenly, a warm feeling traveled from his stomach to his mouth and he quickly felt for the bin on the nightstand. He threw up the vile smelling liquid; this time only fluid came up, with very small particles of food dotting the gross liquid.

Blaine coughed into the bin, emptying his mouth. His ears started ringing as he felt quite light headed when he opened his eyes blurrily, looking vaguely inside the bin with the thought of laying back and going back to sleep. Blaine heard a voice next to him and turned his head, his eyes already half-lidded with dizziness. He tried to make out the words the blond haired boy was saying but gave up and fell back on the bed, forgetting that the bin was on his legs.

Blaine could feel the bin sliding off of this lap but didn't spill as the boy grabbed it before it could fall. He curled up again on his side and tried to fall back asleep but the persistent noise of the workmen repairing Kurt's door prevented that. The boy crouched down to his level and spoke something again. Blaine stared blankly at his friend's lips and tried to read them but he could do nothing but grunt in a neutral voice, not really caring what he said. He closed his eyes and felt something sliding around his head and suddenly everything was silent. Blaine made to move his hands up to take them off until a soothing piano tune sounded in his ears. Exhaling a deep breath, he just listened and finally fell asleep again; listening to the gentle sounds of the music.

The next time he woke up, he opened his eyes to someone sitting against the headboard next to him. Blaine squinted his eyes and stared up, grateful that the light was dimmer than before. Sliding the headphones off his ears, he could see a head of styled brown hair looking forward at something. "Mmgh, Kurt?" Blaine murmured sleepily.

"Looks like someone woke from their slumber. I was afraid I would have to kiss you to wake up." Kurt's voice said amusingly.

Blaine could feel the mattress shifting as Kurt moved. "Mmm…" Blaine hummed, closing his eyes again and pushing his head more into the pillow. "At least you'd be my knight in shining Alexander McQueen designer armor…" He murmured, feeling the lull of sleep persuading him back.

Kurt chuckled quietly. "I know I'd be. And you're not going to sleep yet, Blaine."

He could feel him peel back the blanket from his body, still in a fetal position from his last sleep. Blaine protested at the sudden loss of warmth that was covering him.

"Nope, c'mon. You need to drink and eat something and then I'll let you go back to sleep; okay, love?" Kurt said gently but firmly.

Feeling Kurt's arms sliding under his arm and chest, he obliged, sitting up against the headboard as his boyfriend settled the blanket around the lower half of his body. He opened his eyes and felt something being put into his hands. Blaine put his glasses on and the world came into clear focus. He turned his head and watched as Kurt, dressed in jeans and a yellow designer jacket, leaned over and grabbed something off the floor.

"I thought you were going to stay in Lima for the weekend. Weren't you going to help Mercedes and Tina with their clothes for the benefit concert this Thursday?" He spoke slowly, still trying to wake up.

Kurt straightened back up, a bin, not unlike the one Blaine threw up in, in his hands. He carefully pulled out a glass filled with a golden yellow liquid with a straw in it. "Drink, it's orange juice." Kurt said as he held the glass for him. "And to answer your question, I was in the middle of doing that when Jeff texted to tell me that you were throwing up again." He arched an eyebrow. "He also told me that you were screaming in your sleep last night."

Blaine drained half the glass before letting go of the straw in his mouth. He leaned the back of his head against the wall and sighed. "It's nothing, Kurt. I was just having another nightmare…" Blaine drifted, remembering. He shivered, from both the memory and how cold he suddenly felt. Blaine was about to lay back down until Kurt stopped him once again.

"Ah. Not yet, you." He grabbed something else out of the tub in his lap. "Eat this and you'll have to take these pills. You know you've been running a little warmer than usual."

Blaine groaned as he held his hand out to him. Kurt placed a pudding pouch in his hand, the cover peeled off and a spoon already in it. Blaine cautiously placed a spoonful in his mouth, swallowing it slowly. He sighed in relief as his stomach didn't rebel against the food. "Have I? I feel really cold, though." His shiver emphasized his point. "

Kurt dropped two white pills in his hand along with the glass of orange juice. "Your body is just reacting to the lasagna. You'll be fine soon, I hope."

"Hmm…" Blaine hummed, drinking the orange juice after swallowing the pills. He felt his stomach now starting to fight back against the small amount of food. "Ugh, kill me." He muttered as he handed back the empty glass, screwing his face up in discomfort. "Who knew food could taste so good yet make you sick for days." Blaine slid down the bed, clutching his hand to his stomach as he lay face down on his pillow. His glass slid up his nose and onto his head.

Rolling his eyes, Kurt set the empty glass back in the white tub. "Go back to sleep love, the pills should kick in soon and you'll feel better."

"O-o-okay." Blaine yawned, snuggling next to Kurt as his eyes started to droop down. "But, I need to do homework for tomorrow…" He murmured, already half-asleep.

Kurt tucked the blanket back around his body and kissed him lightly on the cheek as his eyes closed. "Shh, go to sleep. I'll take care of it. I love you."

"I… love you… too…" Blaine breathed, finally falling over edge into the comfortable darkness.

Kurt smiled and brushed his hair back from his forehead, taking his glass off his curly hair and setting it on the nightstand. He grabbed Blaine's laptop off of the nightstand after putting the glasses in the same place. Kurt flipped the top open and waited for it to boot up, thinking of chatting with Mercedes about her latest diva moves of which he found absolutely ridiculous.

Blaine slept though most of Sunday, with Kurt at his side on the bed, doing his homework and talking quietly with the other boys that came in and asking about Blaine. He made Jeff and Nick do Blaine's homework after threatening to tell blackmail them about their prank on the roof of the school a few weeks ago. He still had not woken up, except for the few moments where Kurt shook him to get him to drink some water and medicine, on Monday when school started again. Kurt silently got up, being careful not to jostle the bed too much as he started to get ready. Blaine remained sleeping, oblivious to any of the noise; which included some boys running down the hall to get to the dining hall for the first chance of bacon and pancakes.

Peeling a post it note off the pad, he stuck it on the cup he filled with water with two pills next to it. _Drink me!_ Kurt wrote on the yellow sticky paper in black ink. He heard the clock chime the hour and kissed Blaine on the forehead quickly, brushing the few curls that had fallen over his slightly olive colored forehead in the night. Kurt walked out and quietly shut the door behind him, hearing the small click of the doorjamb as he saw Jeff stumbling out of his dorm room. Rolling his eyes, he walked back the boy as he smirked.

* * *

Hearing the phone vibrate on the wooden nightstand, Blaine blearily opened his eyes and shot a hand out to grab the Android. He bumped something smooth and cold before closing his fingers around the black device. Blaine withdrew his hand and dropped the phone beside his jaw before reaching to feel for his glasses. Groaning at the light of his phone, he poked himself in the eye with the arm of his glasses before seeing the text message Kurt sent to him.

_U okay?_

_K, I literally just woke up to your text._

It was a few minutes before Kurt texted back. _Oh. Did u see the meds I put on the nightstand? Drink them. I'll be back soon, it's nearly last period._

Blaine knit his eyebrows at what he read. Turning his head to the side, he saw the glass of water and the two small pills by its side; along with the clock announcing that it was fifteen minutes before two. _How long have I been asleep? Exactly?_ He texted Kurt back as he rolled his eyes and groaned.

_U've slept nearly twenty six hours, love. U needed it so don't tell me that you had to do this and that. Jeff and Nick did your homework for you along with copying their notes for u from today. Blackmail goes a long way with those two._

He snorted when he read Kurt's reply. _Nice. We're still going to the concert tonight, right?_

Kurt took a little bit to text back. Blaine swallowed the pills in the meanwhile, and sat up a little bit; hoping that his stomach was cooperating with him. _If u feel up to it, B. How's your stomach? Did u take the pills yet?_

Blaine thought for a bit. _I'm fine, I just took them and besides, I want to support your friends._

He didn't hear back from him so he decided to go to the bathroom and try to wake up more. Blaine grimaced at his reflection in the mirror, screwing his eyes up at it. He looked a little thinner and paler than usual with his hair all over the place; he showed signs of not shaving for two days, a light black shadow covering his upper lip and jaw. Sighing, he sat down on the closed-lidded toilet and unfastened the Velcro straps of his left leg, wincing as air hit the skin of his leg. Blaine looked closer, somewhat intrigued by it. His leg was definitely thinner than his right leg, probably from the weeks in the fiberglass cast and then the nearly twenty four hours in his brace. The skin felt and looked weird, like it was constantly wet or soggy. Blaine ran his hand over the thin red line at the bottom of his knee, grimacing.

"Oh, there you are. I was worried when I didn't see you on the bed."

Blaine looked up and smiled. Kurt was standing in the doorway, wearing his Dalton cardigan today instead of the blazer. He came towards him, setting down a cup of coffee on the counter in the process. "How're you feeling? You look better than before." Kurt asked as he placed a palm on his boyfriend's forehead, feeling his temperature.

"Kurt, I'm fine. I told you already. And besides, have I told you how sexy you look in that cardigan?" Blaine grinned.

The brunette blushed quite deeply, his cheeks coloring a deep pink. "Oh hush, I know I look fabulous in this. I can rock anything this school gives me." Kurt took his hand off of his forehead.

Blaine laughed and pulled Kurt's head towards him, angling his up for a kiss. They both kissed each other sweetly, breaking off with a sound. "I know you do. Is this the same one from when I first kissed you? From before Regionals?"

Kurt smiled as he leaned his forehead against Blaine's. "Mhmm. The same one." He initiated the kiss this time, deepening it from the start. They only broke apart for air. "C'mon, my dad's going to pick us up soon. You need to get ready."

Blaine groaned, both at the loss of Kurt's lips and thought of finally changing out of his pajamas. "Alright, alright. And I know you need your bathroom."

"Be back here in an hour or so? That way I know you won't wear something embarrassing in front of my friends." Kurt said, helping him up by holding his forearms. "Are you sure you'll be okay without your brace? Blaine, you don't even have a knee brace like mine."

"Kurt, for the last time, I'm fine. I'll be perfectly fine. The only thing I'm not fine about is how I smell right now which is probably pretty nasty." Blaine reassured him. He ran his braced hand over a strand of Kurt's hair that had escaped from the side of his head.

"Now that you mention it," Kurt said while making a face, "yeah, you do kinda smell."

Blaine laughed and pecked Kurt on the cheek with his lips. "I'll be fine. I'll be back in an hour, happy?"

"Very."

Walking into his own room, he squinted at the soft light streaming in his window. He grabbed a pair of boxers and went to take a shower. Blaine looked closer at himself in the mirror after he shut the door. His face looked more haggard now that he saw the small bags and lines under and around the corners of his eyes. He gave up looking at himself and went to turn on the nozzle for his shower

Blaine opened a drawer, he contemplated what to wear. It was a concert after all, so bright colors wouldn't do. He finally settled on a black t-shirt he bought on a trip from Chicago, really dark blue jeans, black shoes, and his dark green pea coat; deciding that it had enough color yet wasn't too disruptive. He gelled his hair and walked over to his closet where he kept his wallet. Blaine opened a small draw in the back of the small alcove, pulling out another box. Opening it, he grabbed a hundred dollar bill out, knowing the even though admission was only ten bucks, he decided to thank them for coming to the funeral and everything else.

He knocked on Kurt's door and creaked it open as he heard him to come in. Smiling, Blaine took in Kurt's outfit. He was wearing a gray shirt with a little bit of a frill at the collar, a gray jacket, his hippo pin over the pocket on the left side of his chest, and fitted tight black trousers with gray stripes going down into calf high boots. "Kurt, you look amazing." Blaine told him, gazing at how well he pulled off the gray color.

"Why, thank you. I thought you wouldn't notice." Kurt said, fluttering his eyelashes as he fixed his hair again in the mirror. "You look amazing yourself. I love how you look in green."

Blaine laughed as he sat down at the foot of the bed, rolling up the bottom of his jeans so they wouldn't drag on the ground when he walked. "What time is your dad coming here?"

"In about fifteen minutes. He's going to drive us back after, but he can't stay for the concert since he told me he had something at the shop he had to work on that couldn't wait." Kurt replied.

The two of them sat there chattering until Burt called his son. The drive to Lima was uneventful, the clouds slowly taking over the sky. It looked like it was going to rain right as they pulled up into the garage. Kurt and Blaine had dinner with Burt and Carole, Finn was at McKinley getting prepared for the concert.

"C'mon, I'll show you around before it starts." Kurt pulled Blaine gently by the hand as soon as they were dropped off at the main entrance of the school.

"Wait, Kurt. Slowly, I didn't wear the brace tonight. I still can't run up the stairs like you do." Blaine told him, hanging on to the railing with his similarly unbraced left hand.

Kurt raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow as he saw his hand gripping the iron bar as he walked up. "Why? Why didn't you wear them?"

Blaine shrugged. "I was getting sick of wearing them all the time. I'd thought this would be a nice break from the two things."

Kurt sighed and rolled his eyes in exasperation. They finally made inside when the lights turned on in the nearly empty parking lot behind them. Kurt showed Blaine the office, the cafeteria, and various other classrooms while walking inside the dimly lit hallways. Clearly the school didn't invest in heating the brick and linoleum halls as it was as cold inside the school as it was outside. Blaine kept his hands inside of the pockets of his jacket.

"And that was the Spanish classroom." Kurt said, pointing it out as Blaine looked. "And of course, you know the choir room." He waved a hand towards it. Blaine looked briefly, noting the people in the room warming up.

"Hey, you guys better get in the auditorium. The show's about to start." A voice said in front of the two of them. Brittany was pushing Artie towards the choir room.

"It's gonna be a full house y'all. Better get there early to get a good seat." Artie said enthusiastically.

"We'll be there in a minute." Kurt told the pair. "I'm just showing Blaine around."

Just as they were about to go into the room, they stopped. "Thanks for showing up and supporting us, guys. It's really cool." Artie told them with a smile.

Blaine smiled back as he noticed the look of longing on Kurt's face as he watched his two friends disappear into the open doorway and out of sight. "Aw, you miss them." He said gently to the brunette, noting how his face dropped a little as he held his hands behind his back.

Kurt opened his mouth to say something but a male voice sounded from behind them.

"What the hell are you two doing here?"

They both turned around to see Karofsky, dressed in a sweaty red cutoff sweatshirt with an equally sweaty gray t-shirt underneath sneering at them malevolently. "We're here for the benefit." Kurt replied stiffly, his eyes serious. "Don't tell me you're going."

"I wouldn't be caught dead. I was pumping iron in the gym when one of the guys in the gym told me you two were here spreading your fairy dust all over the place." Karofsky told them with a mocking tone.

"Would you just give it up? You can live whatever lie you want. But don't pretend what the three of us don't know what's really going on here." Blaine demanded, his anger growing at the jock who threatened to kill his boyfriend.

"You don't know squat, butt boy." The jock threw back.

Something snapped inside Blaine and he shoved the massive linebacker. Karofsky shoved back while Kurt was trying to separate the two of the in middle.

Santana came out of nowhere and pushed the two of them apart. "Hey, hey, hey. No, guys, stop!" She said as the two of them backed up away from each other.

"Real brave with your fists, but you're a coward when it comes to the truth." Kurt told him, his eyes slightly widening at what just happened.

"Truth about what?" The Latino girl said.

Karofsky glared at Kurt before shifting his gaze towards her. "It's none of your business, J-Lo." He told her before glancing back at Kurt.

"First of all," Santana started, "anything you do became my business after you decided to toss that slushie up in my grill."

"I think I can take a couple of queers and a girl." Karofsky sneered.

Santana laughed evilly. "Huh. Okay, so here's what's going to go down. Two choices, you stay here and I crack one of your nuts; right or left, that's your choice. Or you walk away and live to be a _douchbag_ another day." She told him, getting dangerously close to him. "Oh and also, I have razor blades hidden in my hair. Mhmm, tons. Just all up in there." She moved her hands around her head.

Blaine looked on in admiration as Karofsky made a disgusted sound half ran the way back down the hallway he came from. "We've could have handled that." He admitted as she turned towards Kurt and him.

"It was more fun doing it together." She told him, giving him a small smile.

They both smiled as her cell phone vibrated audibly. Santana pulled out her phone from the shoulder of red dress and quickly read the text message. "Oh crap." And without a second glance, she marched quickly between the two of them, her boots clacking on the linoleum floor, into the choir room.

Blaine stood there after she walked away, staring at the place where she stood. Kurt saw a dark look come over his face. "Hey, let's go to the auditorium before something like that comes up again." He told him quietly, taking his hand.

He sighed, nodding as Kurt led them towards the doors of the auditorium. Walking inside, there were only four other people there. The two of the looked at each other as they took seats in the front row of the up half of the theater. Blaine could see a bald man dressed horribly in a cream trench coat and a pale pink polo with khakis, a small blond haired girl in a Cherrios jacket, a boy with a ridiculous afro of brown hair and glasses, and a bulky African-American boy in a varsity jacket.

"Oh hell no." Kurt muttered to Blaine as they sat down with programs in their hands. "Please, please don't tell me what I think they're going to do."

Blaine turned his head before glancing down and reading the program. Apparently the benefit was fitting named "The Night of Neglect" benefit concert and all proceeds would be going towards sending the McKinley academic decathlon to Detroit this weekend for the finals _and_ towards paying for transportation, food, and hotel for the New Directions trip to New York next month for Nationals. He read the list of songs, a little impressed they were singing songs by artists he barely heard of; Lykke Li was one he heard of somewhere but didn't really hear much of. Blaine read bemusingly at the name of the person singing Adele's "Turning Tables." "Hey Kurt, who is this… Holly Holliday? Did they have a new person join the New Directions after Regionals?" He asked, leaning towards him.

Kurt groaned. "Oh Gaga. She's the substitute teacher we have whenever she comes in for teaching _any_ class in this school. She's a good voice, really, but to have her in this…"

Blaine laughed. "I'm sure she'll be great. Let's just see how this goes and we'll visit them at the intermission." He kissed him on the temple just as the lights dimmed. He saw a boy with a Mohawk briefly pop his head in on the side of the auditorium before popping back behind the wall. "Hmm… Artie said the auditorium would be a 'full house'. I wonder where everyone is." Blaine whispered curiously as he took a good look around at the now black seats.

The stage curtains lifted up and a xylophone started the concert off. Kurt smiled as he saw Tina come out in the black satin dress, black knee high socks, and high boots he helped her pick out before he came back to Dalton. She was dragging the microphone stand by her side as she slowly walked with attitude towards the audience. The spotlight was on her as she started singing and swayed her arms to the music.

"You suck!"

"Where's Rachel Berry?"

"Show tunes, show tunes!"

Blaine's mouth fell as he heard what the four people were shouting at the Asian girl on stage. "What. The. Hell?" He said, not even trying to quiet his voice. Kurt's face was identical to his when Kurt looked at him with his eyes still glued to the stage. The four people continued to boo and hurl insults at Tina until she stopped singing, looked horrified, and ran off the stage, the background stopping abruptly and at different times.

"What is your problem?" Kurt stood up and screamed at the four people. "She was singing beautifully and you barbarians just had to ruin her moment of glory!"

Blaine tried to pull him back down to his seat but he was gripping the front of the wooden divider pretty tightly. "No, Kurt. Just…" Blaine couldn't come up with a reasonable solution.

"Hey Lady Boy, sit down before I make you sit down!" The boy in the varsity jacket stood up and face him. "You're going to be sorry as soon as you don't and my fists come _singing_ into your face! This ain't singing, this ain't even I would let my dead dog listen to."

"This is why you're a sack of grain who's good for nothing but a dumb crash mat." Kurt said angrily.

A girl with long blond hair in a red cardigan and cream dress entered with baskets hanging from the elbows of her arms. The baskets were filled with pastel colored candies and boxes of what looked like the same candy. "Who wants saltwater taffy?" She asked the four of them in a musical voice. The two boys ran from their seat towards her as she walked towards the girl in the Cherrios jacket. "Take as much as you want. And remember, vote Quinn Fabray for prom queen."

"Quinn!" Kurt yelled from where she was walking along the row of chairs. He and Blaine waved their arms for her to come over.

"Thanks for coming you guys." She told them as she came up. "Sorry that you had to see this." She slightly tilted her head toward the four hecklers.

"We're sorry you have to go through this." Blaine told her sympathetically. "What are you selling?"

She held up the half full baskets. "Saltwater taffy. Want some? Mr. Schue had us try to sell this to pay for Nations and… well, as you can see, it didn't go so well."

Blaine reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet; he grabbed the twenty dollar bill behind the hundred. "Here, I'll take four boxes. My brother loves this stuff and it's his birthday soon, so why not?" He handed her the bill as Kurt grabbed the two remaining boxes in the basket for him.

"Thanks, Blaine. Really. I'll get you two more boxes when it's intermission." Quinn smiled as she took the twenty.

"Don't worry, we'll come see you guys. We can get it then." Kurt told her as the lights went down.

She smiled again at the pair of them and hurried out as a blond boy in a green shirt and jeans came out on stage and talked into the microphone. "And now, please enjoy the dance stylings of Mister Mike Chang as he busts some moves to Jack Johnson's 'Bubble Toes'"

The only light that went on now was spotlight on an Asian boy in a white shirt, black vests and pants dancing along excellently to the happy tune. Blaine laughed a few times when he saw him holding a mop with a red robe, symbolizing the girl in the song. The hecklers couldn't make a sound, their mouths full of taffy; they could only make arm movements but they were silent nonetheless. The song ended and both he and Kurt stood up clapping.

"Whoo!" Kurt cheered out.

"Bubbles! Yeah!" Blaine shouted, cupping his mouth between his hands as Mike bowed and ran off stage smiling.

The lights went up and the three student hecklers filed out, their hands still full of taffy. Kurt looked at the program; even though there were supposed to be three performances, one was after Tina but before Mike, it was apparently already intermission. "C'mon. I'll take you to the choir room." Kurt took Blaine hand as they walked out.

Walking into the choir room, they smiled at the group chattering happily. All of the smiled and called out Kurt and Blaine's names when they came in.

"You guys were amazing out there!" Kurt said as Quinn handed Blaine his other two boxes of taffy. "Tina, you were absolutely _fabulous_ on that stage. Forget Azimio, Jacob, Becky, and Sandy. You were amazing!" He grinned at her when she hugged him.

"Mike, that dance number was outstanding. Even the Warblers would be impressed with your moves. Then again, we were already jealous of you and Brittany after we saw you at Sectionals earlier this year." Mike grinned as he clapped Blaine on the back.

"Oh, Mr. Schue. Here, the money for the tickets for tonight." Kurt said as he slipped a twenty out of his jacket pocket.

The older man smiled, the wrinkles showing at the corner of his eyes as he did so. "Hey, thanks, Kurt. Really. Just coming here tonight really means a lot."

"Not to mention Blaine bought four boxes of taffy. He paid twenty dollars for them." Quinn said brightly, handing the bill to the teacher.

"Actually," Blaine said slowly as he pulled his wallet out. "I wanted to give you guys this, for everything that you've done for the two of us recently." He handed Mr. Schuester the hundred dollar bill.

All of the New Directions' eyes were bugging out of their heads. "Dude, are you like a millionaire or something?" Puck asked, his jaw hanging open.

"I… Blaine, I couldn't possibly-" Mr. Schuester began.

He held a hand up and shook his head. "Please, take it. I mean it, if you guys need it, take it. I have enough as it is and I'm more than happy to help you guys. Like I said before, this is my way of thanking you guys for everything." Blaine said sincerely.

"Thank you, Blaine." Sam said on behalf of the show choir.

"Where's Lauren? And Mercedes and Rachel?" Kurt asked as he looked around.

"Something came up. You guys go back out in the auditorium, intermission's about to be over!" Mike said.

They said their good byes and hugged before walked out, the door shutting behind them. Kurt put the taffy boxes they had been holding right outside the doors so that they would remember them when the concert ended. Walking back in, they only saw the man in pink clothing sitting in the back row of the front section of the theater.

"Where is everyone? Let's get on with it!" The man yelled, flapping his arms and shoulders in a horrible cowboy impression.

"You're a really horrible person, you know that?" Blaine told him, irritated and angry. Kurt rolled his eyes and patted Blaine's shoulder as they walked back.

"You sound like my court appointed therapist." The man said to his back.

As they sat down, a woman in a green and black track suit came in and walked behind the man, whispering something in his ear. Then he stood up and left the auditorium with the woman, but not before Mr. Schuester came in and said something to her as she walked out.

"Of course it had to be her." Kurt said exasperatingly, pinching the bridge of his nose with his two fingers.

"Who is that? She was at Regionals with that other show choir." Blaine asked, remembering her from the competition and that YouTube video he had yet to show him.

"That, my dear boyfriend, is one of the most vile and eloquent people you will meet." Kurt groaned.

Mr. Schuester took a seat in one of the front rows of the auditorium as Sam's voice announced, "And now, ladies and gentlemen, Ms. Holly Holliday."

The lights darkened and the curtains pulled up, showing a tall woman with her hair in a bun in a black dress with a string orchestra full of what looked like fifth graders behind her. Blaine recognized the beginning chords of Adele's "Turning Tables" song. The performance was beautiful, but seemed slightly out of place with Mike and Tina's performances.

All three of them clapped after she was done, but didn't stand. "That was really nice of her to do this." Kurt whispered as the curtain came down.

"Yeah, I like how her voice sounded. It was a nice tribute to Adele. I like the orchestra in the back, but aren't they a little young to be doing vibrato?" Blaine asked, looking at him.

"Doing what?" Kurt said blankly.

"You know, the…" Blaine demonstrated with his left hand, wincing slightly as he moved his hand. "Oh, never mind. I'll ask Mari later."

They waited as they heard a bit of a scuffle coming from behind the curtain; the instrumentalists were probably moving around for the next song. Soon, the lights dimmed again and a familiar xylophone melody started. Kurt grinned as the curtain raised and Tina came out, walking the same way as before, and sang her song in full. The both of them cheered the hardest when it ended while Mr. Schuester clapped and stood up. She bowed and walked off stage, grinning exuberantly and waving to them. The man dressed in the pink polo came back in and took his prior seat.

Suddenly, everyone in the New Directions except for Rachel, Mercedes and Sam came in. They waved down the two boys and pointed to seats close to where they were all sitting.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, Ms. Mercedes Jones." Sam said, smiling.

The curtain was quickly raised up, revealing the African-American teenager in a beautiful sequined midnight blue gauze dress with a matching hair piece. Blaine smiled as he listened to her belt out the Aretha Franklin song, enjoying it immensely. It was too soon when the song ended. Everyone stood up and gave her a huge standing ovation.

"You guys were all amazing tonight. Thanks for inviting us." Blaine said as he received everyone's hugs as Kurt called his dad to pick the two of them up to go back to Dalton.

"Tonight wouldn't have been a success without you two. Money or no, you two made it amazing, not us." Santana told him.

Kurt and Blaine said their good byes and walked out, grabbing Blaine's taffy boxes on the way out, and out to the front door where they waited inside the doors. They waited as soon as the car pulled up to the curb and, walking somewhat slowly in the rain, they made it out to the car laughing at the water dripping in their eyes from their hair.

"You two boys have a good time?" Burt asked as the windshield wipers swiped across the long piece of glass separating the outside world from inside the car.

"Yes, Dad. You should have been there." Kurt said as he continued to tell him the highlights of the concert, even leaving in the part of the hecklers.

They soon were at Dalton and the two boys thanked Burt before they dashed out of the car and into the austere brick building of their dorm rooms.

"Tonight was pretty awesome." Blaine said as he sat on Kurt's bed and slipped his leg back into the brace.

Kurt did the same thing next to him. "Yeah, it really was." He said a little distractedly.

Blaine looked at him worriedly as he fastened the straps around his hand brace. "Hey, at least you know that they'll be putting the money to good use next month."

Sighing, Kurt lay down next to him and pulled the blanket over their bodies. "I know. I'm glad we went." He smiled. "I love you."

Blaine smiled back and kissed him. "I love you, too."

The two boys drifted off, the sounds of the night accenting their dreams.

* * *

**Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait, but I got you a huge new chapter! Please tell me what you think of it by review! **

**And also, if you could please go back to chapter ****twenty-three (Do You Hear What I Hear) and review that chapter. I really did work quite hard on that and I want to know what you all think of that.**

**I also have a Tumblr account now if anyone also has one. My url is simply AnatomyFreak . tumblr . com. (Yeah, I know. It's a pain in the ass to take out all the spaces.)  
**

**Thank you guys, so much and please review!**


	27. Chapter 27

_Thursday, four in the afternoon_

Kurt looked forlornly at the picture he pinned above his desk when he first came to Dalton in November. The picture showed him, Mercedes, Tina, Rachel, Brittany, and Artie crouching or sitting down on a shiny wooden floor while Finn, Sam, Mike, Santana, Puck, Mike, and Mr. Schuester standing behind them. They were all dressed in black suits or beautiful orange dresses for the girls; it was when they posed after the wedding. He ran his fingers over the picture, as if he could feel them through the ink.

"Want to go to Warbler practice now?"

He snapped his head around and to the door. Blaine was leaning on the door frame, one arm above his head on the wooden frame and the other holding his cane. "You… okay? You looked distracted."

Kurt smiled, his mood lifted as soon as he appeared. "Yeah, just thinking about stuff."

Blaine breathed out a small laugh through this nose. He saw him looking at the picture of his glee club. "You miss them, so much; don't you? I mean, you've been acting a little distant since their benefit concert Monday night."

The countertenor sighed, playing with the pen between his fingers. "It's… just a little hard. Sometimes I feel like I abandoned them for Dalton."

Blaine walked over and leaned against the desk beside him. "Kurt, Karofsky harassed and threatened to kill you. It was logical for you to transfer here. I know McKinley doesn't have an enforced zero-tolerance no harassment policy like Dalton does." Blaine reasoned with him.

"I know… I just miss them. A lot. They've been there for me ever since I came out sophomore year…" He trailed off. "I mean, they even physically fought Karofsky for me in the locker room."

Blaine looked interested. "Oh?"

Kurt nodded, shifting his eyes back to the picture, staring at the boys. "Yeah; it was right before the wedding. Apparently all the girls were concerned and asked the boys to give him a warning. Turns out the warning was a fist fight between him, Mike, and Sam. Karofsky knocked Artie over in his wheelchair and took Mike with him falling to the floor. Puck couldn't do anything because he was just released from juvie, and I'm not exactly sure where Finn was. But Mike got a pretty bad bump on the head and Sam got a black eye before Beiste could stop them."

Blaine stayed silent, listening and taking it all in before speaking. His friends were more than what his were at his old high school. It sent a chill up his spine when he remembered what his supposed friends did to him before he came to Dalton. He laid a hand over Kurt's as he looked down at him. "Kurt, I would _love_ for you to go back to McKinley. You miss them so much." Blaine said kindly, ignoring the small ache in his heart as he said it.

Kurt looked up, quite surprised. "But-"

Kneeling down on one knee, keeping his left leg outstretched and sitting on the back of his right foot, he took his hands. "Kurt. I love you. Make no mistake, I love you so much. But it pains me to see you hurting. I know, Kurt." Blaine said when he opened his mouth again. "I know how you look at all of us when we're talking about the shenanigans we got into the past three years and you've only been here for five months. The look in your eyes dull a little bit every time. I _know_, Kurt, I know."

Sighing, Kurt ran his thumb over Blaine's knuckles, knowing he was right. They sat there, just thinking before Blaine pulled Kurt and himself up. "C'mon, some Warbler practice'll clear your head. At least we get to go to another nursing home this weekend."

"Alright, alright. Just let me change, I'll meet you at the end of the hall when I'm done." Kurt said, kissing him.

Blaine smiled as he kissed him back. "Okay. I'll meet you there, love."

Leaning against the clear pane of glass dressed in a simple dark blue t-shirt and casual khakis, he felt his Android vibrate in his pocket. Blaine pulled it out and saw his sister's picture on the screen. "Hey, what's up?" He answered as he looked out the window.

"Blaine. You're- You're safe, right? Please tell me you're alright and breathing and alive and-" She said frantically.

"Lauren, I'm right here. Yes, I'm alive and breathing and I'm staring out the window. Why?" Blaine asked her worriedly.

It sounded like she was crying as he talked, the sniffles and quiet wails coming from his phone. "It's just… it's just…" That was she could say before breaking down completely and sobbing.

"Lauren, where are you? What happened? Lauren!" Blaine half-shouted into his phone.

"What's wrong?"

Blaine whipped around, his hand coming up unconsciously and nearly whacking Kurt on the side of his head. "Lauren. I think she's having a break down." He told him shortly as he limped his way back to his room as quickly as possible. "Here, try and talk to her as I get Mari on Facebook." Blaine shoved his phone into Kurt's hands.

"Lauren, this is Kurt. Yes, breathe, Lauren. I know you're… No, Lauren… Listen to me! Breathe, Lauren. Deep breath, now let it out." Kurt talked to her. "Good, once more, good."

Blaine quickly booted up his laptop, ignoring the time. Once he got his browser up, he got up Facebook and sighed a breath of relief as he saw Mairead online. Blaine quickly typed in, after clicking on her name, _Call Lauren, NOW. She's freaking out and she just called me._

_What happened? I'm calling her now._

_I don't know, she just called me and it really sounds like she's crying and sobbing; AKA, freaking out._

_Her line is busy, it just directed me to her voicemail. Are you talking with her, too?_

Blaine turned his head; Kurt was still talking to her on his phone, saying soothing words to try and knock some sense into her._ No, Kurt's talking. I'll just tell him to hang up for you to talk to her._

_NO_. _Let her talk to him for a little bit, I'll talk to her later. _She typed back quite quickly, before he could tug on Kurt's arm to hand the phone back to him.

Blaine read, confused. _But, why? I would think you would be the one to help her the most._

_Think, Blaine. He's had more experience than you or I with losing all of our birth mothers. Most likely, she probably fell asleep and had a nightmare. Even more likely, it was the four of us dying. And don't tell me you haven't had them either since we… you know._

He sat there reading it over. She was right, he knew Kurt had also been having them; it was taking a toll on all them. _You're right, I'm just being an idiot right now. _Blaine could hear Kurt starting to finish up his conversation with his sister. _Kurt's almost done I think, I'll be right back._ He turned his body away from his laptop to look to where Kurt was standing with his face to Blaine's closed door.

"… all right. You'll call me when you need to; right, Lauren?" Kurt said, arching an eyebrow even though she couldn't see him. His shoulders dropped visibly when he listened to her response. Kurt looked up to see Blaine watching him. Nodding at him when Blaine put his thumb and pinky up to the side of his face, he told the younger Anderson "Hey, Blaine want to talk to you again; but remember, this does get better. It's not going to be easy or fun but it does get better, Lauren. Yeah, I'll talk to you later." With that, Kurt handed the black Android back to Blaine with a sad smile.

"Thank you." Blaine mouthed to the brunette as he put the phone to his ear. "Lauren, you still there, sis?" He asked hesitantly.

Sniffling quietly, she said "…yeah, I'm still here, Blaine."

"Lauren, it's okay to cry. I still do it; it's only been a short time since the funeral. I'm here for you, sis. I always will be." Blaine said, still sitting down and pinching the bridge of his nose with his middle and forefingers of his left hand. "Laur, call me whenever you have a nightmare, okay? I know it's scary; thinking that I'm dead. But as soon as you call me, you'll know that I'm okay, Joey's okay, Mari's okay, and Kurt's okay. Alright?" He let the words flow out of his mouth without even thinking, not caring how cheesy they sounded.

Hearing her sniff her nose, she answered "…Yeah, okay. I will."

"I know you, Lauren. You're strong; and I love you for that. Do me a favor?" Blaine asked before continuing on without her acquiescence. "Play your viola. Play… Tchaikovsky's Serenade or Movement or something that you played a few concerts ago, I can't remember which one. Anyway, it'll make you feel better, I promise."

"…Sure."

"Lauren?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

Almost as if he could see her twitch the corner of lips into a sad smile, Blaine heard her respond "I love you, too." a little too sadly for his taste.

Blaine grimaced as he pressed the red disconnect button on his Android screen. He sighed and threw the phone down on his desk on top of some papers. Blaine slid partially out of the chair and leaned his head on the edge of the back of his chair, closing his eyes.

Kurt came over and sat on the back of his heels, stroking Blaine's forearm that was resting limply on his lap. "Tough day for all of us, huh? First, your nightmare this morning, and now Lauren's breakdown. I guess I'm next." Kurt joked half heartedly, trying to make him smile.

Chuckling breathily, Blaine rubbed a hand over his face to cover a yawn he could feel coming on. "I'm honestly surprised that this happened right now; I thought it would happen earlier than this."

Kurt pulled his hand off his face and ran his thumbs under the faint bags under Blaine's eyes. "I know. C'mon, we got practice. Let Mari talk to her and she'll come around." He grabbed the shorter boy's hands and pulled him to his feet.

"Oh, that reminds me. One second." Blaine said as he was hauled to his feet. He bent over to type _She's free now, Mari. Call her? I gotta go to practice, call me later after you're free._ before walking out, leaning a little heavily on Kurt; the warm weight of the brunette's arm on his shoulder keeping him together.

* * *

_Friday, three in the afternoon_

"Ready to go?" Kurt asked as Blaine slid into the passenger seat of his car, the engine purring as it warmed up.

"Ye-ye-yeah." Blaine yawned as he accidentally tried to buckle the seat belt to the inside his blazer. He fumbled with the buckle as Kurt started driving, finally getting it in the correct place by the time they rolled out the austere gates of Dalton. Leaning his head against the back of the seat, he looked blearily out the windshield at the highway with various cars passing them. Kurt was talking, but he was barely paying attention; he was so tired from the school day. Blaine had finally gotten caught up on all the tests he had missed and barely had time to eat, let alone sleep the night before.

"-so I told them that it wasn't bad, considering that Vogue sometimes misprinted the names of the designers on the models in the pictures." Kurt said, not realizing Blaine was briefly dozing.

"Wh- Yeah, cool." Blaine mumbled as his head slipped off the side of the back of the seat towards Kurt as he jerked himself upright as to not bump Kurt and wake himself up.

Kurt glanced quickly at Blaine before returning his eyes to the road. "Sorry, I rambled, didn't I?" He asked worriedly.

Blaine rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands as he shook his head. "No, I'm just… tired, I guess. It's just all the tests I had to wretch the information out of my head for today making me tired." He yawned as he opened his eyes to find his contacts protesting at the sudden light. Blaine shut his eyes and slung an arm around his face.

"Why don't you get some sleep? It's two hours to Lima and you need it, Blaine. I know you didn't sleep last night." Kurt told him, his face focused on the road.

Blaine uncovered his eyes slightly and turned his head towards him. "You sure? I can stay awake to talk."

"Yes, I'm sure. Besides, you'll earn yourself premature wrinkles in your forehead if you don't get enough sleep. And god forbid that I didn't warn you about moisturizing your face when we're in our forties." Kurt snuck a smirk on his face as Blaine yawned again. "Lean the seat back, Blaine, you'll be more comfortable that way. The latch is at the bottom on the side near the door."

Blaine did as he instructed and found himself nearly lying down completely. "Wake me up when we get to Lima." Blaine mumbled as he drifted off, the motion of the car lulling him to sleep.

Kurt smiled as he pressed a button on the CD player on his dashboard, turning it on to soft piano music to relax the both of them after the tough week they'd both been having. He heard Blaine's breath deepen after a little bit, the music dragging him into a deeper, more energizing sleep. Kurt drove on, occasionally tapping his finger on the steering wheel to the rhythm of a particular song.

Stopping at the red light, he reached over and slid his hand inside Blaine's partially closed one on top of his stomach. Kurt squeezed it while he waited for the light to turn green. "Hey, we're here."

Blaine surfaced from his unconscious state and squeezed back, opening his eyes to see the slate gray colored fabric of the roof of the car. He groaned and tried to roll over to block the light; unfortunately, the seat belt prevented that. "What time is it?" Blaine grumbled as he rubbed the grogginess out of his eyes with the back of both of his hands.

"Just a little after five. The girls already texted me that they're at the Lima Bean, so they're just waiting for us." Kurt answered a little absentmindedly, preoccupied with turning into the parking lot of the coffee shop. "Oh and be careful when you're…"

"Oof!"

A thump sounded just he was about to warn Blaine about the seat flipping back up and hitting him rather hard on the back as he sat up. Kurt winced as he slid the Navigator into an empty spot. He turned off the engine and turned to look at Blaine coughing a little and rubbing his upper back with his knuckles ruefully.

"…flipping the seat back up." Kurt finished in a slightly apologetic tone.

Blaine gave him an embarrassed half smile as he looked up into sparkling glasz colored eyes. "Oops."

Chuckling, Kurt unbuckled his seat belt and leaned over to give him a peck on his cheek as Blaine checked his hair in the mirror in the sun visor. "Well, there's a lot worse things this car could do to someone than hit them. Have a nice nap?"

Unbuckling his own seat belt, he yawned one last time. "Yeah, I just wish I had more, but I guess I'll have to wait until tonight when we're at your house."

"Unless Finn, Puck, Sam, Mike, and whoever else comes over for the usual Friday night video game brawl; then you'll be barely getting any sleep by the way they pester you to play or their rambunctious sounds of joy of assassinating aliens slash targets or whatever the hell they're shooting at." Kurt rolled his eyes.

"Well, I do know someone who could whip everyone's asses at Halo. A certain someone." Blaine said, his tone hinting.

Kurt blushed a bit, a fine dusting of pink settling in his cheeks. "Oh, hush. You'd get that good too if you had a step-brother who's lifelong mission is to beat the game five times in a row per month."

"Hasn't he, yet?"

"Yes."

The two walked inside, Kurt hovering near Blaine in case he stumbled; Blaine decided to leave the cane in the car, he didn't feel like using it anymore. Opening the door, they both saw Artie and Brittany at a table near where Mercedes, Tina, and Santana were talking quietly. Santana was looking at Brittany and Artie longingly.

"Go sit with them, I'll get the coffee for both us." Kurt pointed Blaine the direction of the table as he stood in line. "Do you want anything else with the medium drip?"

Blaine's eyebrows knitted up. "Are you sure? I can wait here if you want to talk with them."

"Nope, you are sitting down until I bring them over. Do you want some biscotti? We can share a plate." Kurt asked again while giving him a stern look to sit down. He pulled out his wallet from his messenger bag that was slung over a shoulder.

Blaine put a hand behind Kurt's head and tilted his face down for a brief kiss. "I love you."

Kurt kissed him back, smiling. "I love you, too. Now go sit down!" He told him with a small laugh.

Walking slowly over to the girls, he returned their smiles with a grin of his own. "Hey girls, looking beautiful as always. Santana, love the hat."

"I would say the same to you if you weren't in the uniform, Blaine." Mercedes said, standing up to give him a hug over the table.

Santana rolled her eyes at him as she embraced him. "Oh, please, this is the only hat that's fashionable enough for Baby Face over there not to complain about."

Blaine shook his head and gave her a confused little smirk. "Baby Face?"

The four of the talked for a bit while Kurt retrieved their coffees and plate of biscotti, making sure to add in cinnamon to Blaine's medium drip. "Hey 'Cedes, Tina. Satan- I mean, Santana." Kurt corrected himself quickly.

Making small talk again, sipping their coffees. Mercedes set down her white chocolate mocha, a look of concern coming over her face. "You haven't asked us anything about our New York trip."

"Is it because it's too painful?" Tina added as she drank her frappachino.

Kurt set down his latte. "Yes, as a matter of fact." He tilted his head towards Blaine, looking at him out of the corner of his eye. "But as the New Directions are preparing to perform at Nationals, the Warblers are preparing to perform at a nursing home; in a strip mall next to a national bank." He picked his cup back up. "I'm so proud of you guys." Tina shook her head in amusement as he took a sip.

"Isn't there any way you could come back to McKinley?" Mercedes asked, her eyes and tone of voice clearly trying to persuade the brunette.

"I told him I'd be all for it if it wasn't for Karofsky." Blaine cut as Kurt opened his mouth to answer.

Santana seemed to snap out of her staring spell at a certain blonde when Blaine spoke. "Wait, what did you just say?"

"Well, Kurt needs to be safe." Blaine answered back plaintively.

Kurt rolled his eyes away from his boyfriend. "Okay, can we please change the subject."

Blaine scooted a centimeter closer to him. "I'm just saying, I'd rather not have you bullied again and if Karofsky's still harassing students, then wouldn't you want to be in a place where he can't get to you?"

"He's got a point there, boo." Mercedes said as she drank her coffee. "I mean, I'd rather have you safe and sound at Dalton than be terrorized all the time." She concluded with a small smile.

Santana abruptly stood up, nearly knocking the table over in her haste. "I gotta gay- GO. I've gotta go." She flashed a quick smile at the four of them before rushing out the door.

"Huh, never seen her have an epiphany before." Kurt said lightly as he sipped at his latte.

Tina chortled. "Since when does Santana ever think deeply about anything other than insulting us?"

Mercedes tilted her coffee cup towards her. "She's got a point. I mean, she's already insulted most of the Glee club when Mr. Schue assigned us our new project for the next week."

"So I heard from Facebook. How's Finn taking it with his quote 'puffy, pyramid nipples'?" Kurt asked as he delicately bit off the end of a biscotti cookie. "What is this week assignment for you guys, anyway?"

"We have to find what we the trait each of us hate about themselves and put it on a t-shirt. Rachel Berry inspired this one." Tina replied.

"Was it because of Finn breaking her nose? How she wanted to have a nose job or something?" Blaine asked, Kurt looking not in the least bit surprised.

"Mhmm. And that's all she's been talking about for the last four days. It's driving us all over a cliff with the amount she's talking about it." Mercedes said, rolling her eyes.

"If I was back in the New Directions, I would give her a speech on how Barbra was flawed and make her _stare_ at how she turned out." Kurt sniffed.

Blaine just looked on as Kurt continued talking with his friends; just staring at how animated he became when he conversed about McKinley and the New Directions.

"Well, we better get going. My dad's expecting us both for dinner tonight and then we've got to sleep so we can do that delightful performance tomorrow at the nursing home." Kurt said, a slightly sad tone entering his voice.

"Just don't get any cats thrown at you, white boy." Mercedes said as they all stood up. "I don't care what you and those Warblin' boys do as long as you're safe." She pulled him into his arms for a hug.

"Hey, just remember, that offer from my dad still stands as soon as they find the dog that did this to you, Blaine." Tina said as she hugged him.

Blaine smiled into her blue streaked curls. "Thanks, Tina. And you'll be in my top five people to call when they do."

Feeling his ribs protesting at the pressure of Mercedes' hug, he hugged her back nearly as tightly as whispered into her ear "I'll get him back to you guys in any way possible."

Mercedes released him with a surprised look on her face. She gave him a small smile as she nodded gratefully.

Slamming the car doors shut, both boys leaned into the seats feeling happy and relaxed. "Ready to go?" Kurt asked as he stuck his key in the ignition and turned the engine on.

Blaine nodded as he secured the seat belt, adjusting the shoulder strap so it didn't cut into his neck. "Yup."

As soon as they were on the road, Blaine laid his hand over Kurt's, which was on the stick shift. "You know I meant what I said in there, right? I really do want you to go back to McKinley but only if you're as safe there as you are at Dalton." He asked softly.

Kurt sighed, blinking his eyes. "I know, but… I just feel if I go back to McKinley I'm abandoning you." He answered back just as quietly.

"You won't be. You'll be happier and that'll make me happy. To know that you're back with people who love you for who you are, every aspect of you." Blaine reasoned, trying to come up with new arguments in his head.

"Can we just… lay off of the topic? I really just want to spend time with you, not talk about McKinley." Kurt said in a strained voice, his one hand gripping the steering wheel tightly.

Blaine pried his other hand off the stick shift and kissed the back of his hand softly. "I'm sorry. I just love you so much."

Kurt smiled but his gaze remained on the road.

A car honked loudly behind them before switching lanes. Blaine saw the driver speeding up in the lane next to him while giving him the middle finger out the window before merging back into the lane they were in. He looked at them in disgust as he settled back into his seat, hoping Kurt didn't see it.

"Geez, is five miles above speed limit not fast enough for you, asshole?" Kurt muttered under his breath, his hand tightening around Blaine's reflexively; he forgot Blaine was still holding his hand.

LINE BREAK

As soon as the two boys reached 415 Whitman Avenue, the two boys gathered the two duffle bags and their messenger bags and walked in the house. Carole yelled out her greeting and told them to come help her make homemade pizzas. Both of them ran up to Kurt's room and changed into casual clothing. Blaine wrinkled his nose at Kurt's outfit. "Love, don't you think you'll get flour on that? I mean, that's McQueen and I don't think white powder would make it any more fashionable than it already is." He told him as they walked down the stairs.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "I _always_ wear an apron when I'm in the kitchen. Even if I do get flour on this, I have another vest upstairs."

Hilarity ensued in the kitchen after Blaine tried to muffle a laugh when he saw a streak of flour coloring a strand of lightly gelled hair after they were done putting toppings on the small pizzas. Kurt looked at his reflection in the black microwave door and smirked. He picked up a small amount of flour, put it in the palm of his hand, hid said hand behind his back, and when he was kissing Blaine, he brought his hand up and dropped the flour onto Blaine's heavily gelled hair.

Blaine jerked away and stared as Kurt laughed, so hard that he had to hang onto the counter to stay standing. It was funny to see Blaine's hair covered in flour, the black of his hair contrasting with the flour nicely. The flour even clung to his black eyebrows, giving him the appearance of a graying Santa Claus. Blaine retaliated by taking a big handful of flour from the bowl holding the white powder and threw it in his boyfriend's face, the particles spreading everywhere. A fight between the two of them began and ended rather quickly, after Carole came back from answering her cell phone.

"Kurt! Blaine! What are you_ doing_?" She yelled over the laughing between the two of them. The two boys were covered nearly head to toe with flour. The counter and the flour were caught in the cross fire but the finished pizzas had somehow escaped injury by flour bombs. It took all of her willpower to not laugh right on the spot.

The two of them looked at each other sheepishly while muttering apologies to her. "Kurt started it!" Blaine said smiling before he took off running up the stairs to take the first shower of the two of them to get the flour off.

Kurt growled and made to follow but Carole stopped him by putting her hands on his floured chest and blocking him. She finally laughed out loud at the situation. "Don't kill him, sweetheart. And don't tell me you didn't enjoy this either."

He half-smiled, half-smirked in rueful amusement. "No, I didn't. I mean, I'm wearing my Alexander McQueen vest! Do you know how hard it to clean this at home?" He said, a mocking tone in his voice.

Carole rolled her eyes at his fake hysteria over his black designer vest. "Oh, just drop it in the laundry bin and I'll take care of it. Go take a shower in our bathroom, sweetie. I'll clean up your mess here and pop the pizzas in." She gave him a little push to get him going.

On the way into his mom and step-dad's bedroom to access their bathroom, he pressed an ear to the door of the bathroom he shared with Finn whenever he was home. Hearing the shower run, Kurt ran to the master bathroom and flushed the toilet. He could hear Blaine yell out in surprise at the rush of cold water squirting over him in his shower. "KURT!" Blaine screamed, his voice amplified by the smooth walls of the bathroom.

_Sweet, sweet revenge._ Kurt thought gleefully as he took off his flour covered apron, grimacing as he saw the outline of the apron and the straps on the shoulder of his vest and dark blue jeans.

"So, how have things been going for you two?" Burt asked as he piled salad into his bowl, taking a little bit more after Carole's look when he only took a small amount.

"Fine, you know we have the performance tomorrow at Prairie Oaks with the Warblers tomorrow. Otherwise, not really much." Kurt answered as he cut into his plate sized pizza topped with spinach and mushrooms while waiting for the salad bowl to be passed to him. He had changed into a simple white t-shirt with a black tank top with Marilyn Monroe stenciled in beige on the front with casual khakis.

"Finally caught up on all my missing tests from the month before. Oh, and occasionally persuading Kurt to play Halo since he's so good at it." Blaine said after he swallowed his bite of his tomato and chicken pizza. He smirked as Kurt shot him a glare.

"Dude, since when do you play Halo?" Finn mumbled through a mouthful of sausage, pepperoni, and chicken pizza. "You have to show me tonight when Puck and the other guys come over!"

"No, Finn. I need sleep if I'm performing tomorrow. Elderly people and the Warblers depend on my voice." Kurt said with a delicate air.

Finn rolled his eyes. "C'mon, just one battle. It'll take like five minutes and then you can sleep." He took another monster bite of his pizza.

"Fine, but you owe me."

"Hell yeah!" Finn grinned broadly while he chewed.

Carole smacked her son lightly on the shoulder. "Don't talk with your mouth full." She returned to her pepperoni pizza.

"You both know that I'm driving to LMH tomorrow after the performance at Prairie Oaks for your appointments after." Burt said after swallowing his bite of the sausage pie he had requested early in the day to his wife.

"Yes, Dad, we know." Kurt said exasperatingly, remembering the texts and calls all week Burt had been pestering him with.

The whole Hudson-Hummel family and Blaine talked until everyone was finished and sated, Finn ate his way through the four pizzas Kurt made for him, and the teenagers cleaned up the table.

"I'm going to get you back for that." Kurt muttered to Blaine as he loaded up the dishwasher with dirty plates and salad bowls while Blaine put the utensils in the right slots on the lower rack.

Blaine only smiled slyly and continued until the dish washer was full.

The doorbell sounded and the pounding thumps of Finn's feet raced to open the door. The next second was filled with noises of rambunctious laughter and pounding footsteps to Finn's room where the Xbox and PS3 were set up.

"And that's how you end a time of peace. Insert boys into a room with electronics and you won't sleep until four in the morning." Kurt said dryly.

Burt walked in just as Blaine closed the door of the dishwasher was closed. "Blaine, I've put your things in the guest bedroom for you. Kurt can show you where it is after you two are done here. I'll be out in the living room watching the Bruins hockey game if you need me." He said as he grabbed a bottle of beer from the refrigerator. He flashed his son a look that said _No exceptions tonight _before walking out.

Kurt huffed a little angrily but said nothing. "C'mon, let's enjoy our second of quiet before Finn drags me out to play Halo." He took Blaine hand and they both ran upstairs to his room.

They were both doing homework in his room when, as Kurt predicted, Finn yelled for Kurt to play Halo. "Go get 'em, love." Blaine smiled as he kissed him for good luck. Kurt only broke the kiss when Finn shouted for him hurry up. Blaine continued doing his homework until Kurt came back. He smiled as he heard the sounds of surprise and disbelief before Kurt came tearing into the room, slamming the door behind him before the boys came stomping up and begging him to play another game against them. Blaine only raised an eyebrow. Kurt shook his head, wincing as the boys pounded on his door.

Eventually the boys went back to Finn's room, leaving the hallway in peace after Burt came up and yelled at them for interrupting his hockey game.

Blaine yawned after a little bit. Looking over at the digital clock on Kurt's nightstand, he was surprised that it was half past nine. "I'm going to sleep, Kurt. Sorry if you're not ready yet."

"It's fine. I know you've had a stressful couple of days with the tests and all. I'll see you tomorrow morning." Kurt said, understandingly. He planted a solid kiss on his lips. "I love you."

Blaine smiled as he kissed him back. "I love you, too. Good night." He gathered his European history textbook and walked out of Kurt's room to walk downstairs to the guest bedroom.

* * *

The performance at the nursing room went well for the Warblers. The simple choreography was easy enough for Kurt and Blaine to join in that they didn't miss a beat. It seemed that most of residents of Prairie Oaks liked their mash up of the Beatles and Elvis, seeing as only a third fell asleep by the end of it. Afterwards, as Burt promised, the two of them went to Lima Memorial Hospital with him as the rest of the Warblers went back to Dalton.

"Well, all your X-rays look clear for you two boys." Dr. Doyle said, putting up black film on the light box mounted on the wall. "Your leg is healing nicely, Blaine, but I still think you'll need the cane for another week or so; just as a precautionary measure. Your tibia is looking good, but there are few places where the bone hasn't healed all the way quite yet so I don't want you doing heavy exercise until it's fully healed."

"As long as it means no more PT, I'm fine with it." Blaine muttered under his breath and crossed his arms.

The doctor only smiled as she looked towards Kurt. "Kurt, you'll have to come back sometime next week for Dr. Piker to check on your chest wounds." Blaine winced as she mentioned the cuts. "Does next Tuesday work for you?"

"I guess, as long as my Dad can excuse me from school." Kurt answered easily, not noticing a look of discomfort come over his father's face.

"No problem, kiddo. I'll come pick you up from Dalton." Burt said in a slightly strained voice.

Kurt nodded and the doctor clicked a few things on the computer, shook all of their hands and walked out. The three of them exited the hospital and walked quietly to the car, Kurt sitting in the back seat with Blaine. The two of them gripped each other's hand as Burt drove back to their house.

"Blaine?" Kurt said quietly from the doorway of the guest bedroom, waiting for him to turn around from where he was facing the window, staring out at the cloud covered world. Blaine didn't respond, so Kurt walked right in, laying a hand gently on his shoulder.

He whipped his head around and just barely managed to stop his fist from swinging out as a defense mechanism. "Sorry." He muttered as he released his left hand from his raised right arm. Trying to conceal the sniffle that was threatening to make sound, he turned back around to the window.

"What's wrong? You've been quiet since we've gotten back." Kurt asked softly, taking both of his hands in his.

"It's… it's the…" was all Blaine managed to whisper before he started trembling.

Kurt guided the two of them over to the bed and sat down next to him. "Blaine," he said, "I love you. No matter what. It's the what, Blaine?"

"Scars." Blaine breathed out, his head bowed over as if he could see his own scars through his button up black shirt.

Kurt sighed. "Wait right here, I'll be back in a minute." He gave a quick kiss on his cheek before dashing out the door and up the stairs to his bedroom. Returning a minute later, he had a jar of what looked like pills and a box of thumb tacks in his hands. "Lay down and unbutton your shirt, Blaine."

Blaine's head raised and he looked at Kurt with tears in his eyes but he nodded. Unbuttoning his shirt and taking off the white undershirt from underneath, he looked away as he lay on his back.

Kurt opened the jar and took out a liquid filled pill and a thumb tack. Taking the tack, he slit a small cut into the pill, making sure that the oil that oozed out didn't spill. He turned back to his boyfriend on the bed, staring anywhere but his body lain out in front of him. Kurt gently squeezed out the oil onto his fingers and rubbed it on the horrific six lettered scars on his chest. "It's vitamin E." He said softly as he smoothed the oil over his skin. "It'll make the scars go away in a little bit."

"Really?" Blaine asked in a child like curious voice.

"It worked for my scrapes on my knees when I was younger. It should work equally as well for these." Kurt said as he looked into Blaine's hazel eyes, his finger tracing the second G with the oil.

He finished up with the small circular scar that was still pink with new skin. It had taken up three pills to cover all of Blaine's scars. "Thank you, love. Thank you." Blaine managed as he sat up while Kurt wiped his slick fingers on a tissue.

"Just promise me one thing." Kurt said as he settled himself back on the bed after tossing the used tissue away. "Promise that every time you see your scars that you'll remember how strong you are. You survived everything that life threw at you and more. You survived and you grew so strong that you don't care whatever else is going to happen, you _and_ I will get through it." Kurt tilted Blaine's head up with his fingers. "Promise me?"

A tear trickled down his cheek as he smiled a little watery. "I promise. I promise." He said, the second time more to himself.

Kurt smiled, his love for him showing on his face as he kissed him passionately.

* * *

**Okay, yes, I know. Why the gap between updates? Well, there are a variety of reasons. First and foremost, guys, I'm floundering without anyone reviewing. I know I sound like a whiny little girl asking for more candy, but honestly, reviews are what keep me going on this story. I promised that I will finish this, but without anything to fuel this, it's going to test me. I really do read each and every review and I even have a file that has all the reviews to motivate me! I absolutely love everyone who reviews; the ones who review every chapter, I love you to death and beyond. But please, just write something to keep me going on this.**

**The second reason is that life has started sucking for me, again. I'm trying to keep upbeat and write, but it's hard when you have bullcrap going on as well as a college course homework and looking for a job taking up time and an emotional, as well as physical toll, on me. I'm struggling though life again so I'll try to update as soon as I can, but I can't promise a regular schedule. **

**On a lighter note, it's been a year since I've uploaded the first chapter. I'm wincing as I read my first few chapters, looking at all the mistakes and the "What the hell was I writing?" sentences. This story has taken a rather drastic turn in plot from what I originally planned, but I've loved every moment that Klaine, Mairead, Joey, Lauren, Jeff, and everyone else has created in my mind. So, happy "birth" day to me, I guess.**

**So, once again, thank you so much to everyone who has stuck with me for a year and I swear I will finish this story 'till the day I, nearly, die. ;) **

**Please read and review! Thank you again, you guys! You really are the best readers a fanfiction author can wish for!**

**3-22-12**


	28. Somewhere Only We Know

_Tuesday, three in the afternoon_

Blaine was getting worried every time he looked at the clock. Kurt's appointment with the doctor was at eleven that morning and he still hadn't come back. He whipped out his cell phone the moment the bell chimed, signaling the end of classes and the school day. _Kurt, you're worrying me. Where r u? _Blaine texted, probably for the sixteenth time in the span of the last two hours. He tried to remember if he had something that morning explaining his current absence.

"_I'll be back before you know it, Blaine." Kurt said, looking in his mirror as he straightened his red bow tie over the top button of his blue gray button down with a dark gray vest over top of the shirt adorned with a scissor brooch with a chain attached to a black button on the vest._

_Blaine sighed and walked over to him from where he was leaning on the doorframe. He wrapped his blazer covered arms around Kurt's waist as he rested his chin on his shoulder. "I know, it just feels… a little lonely when you're gone." Blaine squeezed him gently as he spoke. "Call me when you get there? I'm still worried whenever you're gone with _him_ still out there." He said bitterly._

_Kurt turned around in Blaine's arms, so that his arms were now resting on the small of his back. "I know, but the FBI'll catch the belligerent vermin soon. I'll be fine, my dad's going to be with me. And think of it this way, if there's no news, that means he's still running and he'll make some stupid mistake and run into a police officer while getting… a slice of pizza or something. They'll catch him, love, and he'll pay for _everything_." He brought his hands up to cup Blaine's face and kissed him softly._

_Blaine pushed all of his emotions into his lips as he kissed him back, hugging him closer. Suddenly, he felt a vibrating feeling on the front of his leg. Kurt broke the kiss, but remained in his arms as he pulled out his iPhone from his tight fitting gray brown plaid patterned pants. _

"_My dad's waiting for me. I'll call you when I'm done." He pecked Blaine on the lips. "I love you."_

_Blaine smiled back as he released him from his arms. "I love you more."_

_Kurt chuckled. "You're not winning that one, Blaine."_

_Just as he was about to pick up his bag, Blaine grabbed his arm and whipped him around; pulling him into a passionate kiss that rivaled any movie kiss. "Wanna bet?" He whispered into his lips as they broke apart._

_Kurt laughed lightly as he smacked him on the shoulder. "No, but I really do need to go if you don't want my dad to bring out his crowbar, Blaine. I love you." He pushed his way out of his arms playfully and walked out of his room._

Blaine was broken out of his daydreaming when he heard someone call his name from the end of the hall. He turned around to see a stout man with graying hair and mustache coming towards him. "Hey, Professor Sarles." He addressed his math teacher in surprise.

"You need to come with me right now, Blaine. Don't worry, you're not in trouble." He said to him after he stopped. "But you need to come with me."

"What's wrong?" He asked as he followed the teacher with a quick pace.

"I can't tell you right now or right here, Blaine. But it has something to do with your sister." Came the terse reply.

Blaine's face quickly blanched and his stomach dropped as he stumbled in his fast paced walk to the headmaster's office. When they reached the handsomely carved mahogany door of the office, Professor Sarles opened the door for him and motioned for him to go in. Inside, Blaine saw two familiar people dressed in dark blue clothing, a man in a suit, and Dalton's headmaster sitting in front of the desk.

"Hello, Blaine." Tyler lifted his head when he heard the door open. He gave him a small smile as Blaine nervously sat down on the leather couch.

"What's going on? Why are you two here? Is it because of my father? Are Lauren and Joey safe? Is _Kurt_ safe? What's happening?" Blaine stammered, clearly overwhelmed at Tyler and Julia as well as the headmaster in the room.

"Calm down, Blaine. We have news, but we need you to stay calm and not panic, okay?" Julia said, crossing the gaps from where everyone was sitting and settling down on the seat next to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

Blaine nodded as he shut his mouth, not trusting himself to talk. He looked around nervously at the two SWAT members and his headmaster, whose face had a grave expression.

"Hello, Blaine. I'm Detective Luke Ludtke. I was assigned to your case when you and your friends were found." The man in the blue suit said to him, offering his hand to Blaine.

"I remember you. You were in the room when I gave my statement in the hospital." Blaine said, a bit surprised.

"Yes, I was." He smiled briefly before expression turned somber. "Now, we do have news on your father." He pulled a few papers out of the brown leather briefcase by his feet. "Do you recognize this building?" The detective handed him a picture of a white stone structure surrounded by bright, cheery flowers.

Blaine looked surprised. "Yeah, it's the school my sister goes to in California. Madeline Thames Academy. Why?"

Tyler and Julia looked at each other, their mouths set in a grim line. "We believe that your father was seen in the vicinity of Lauren's school. Does this look like him?"

Blaine looked down as another picture was placed into his hands. It showed a dark blue truck with a man inside the cab with black hair, a mustache, and sunglasses. "It somewhat does, but I can't be sure. My bastard of a father never grew a mustache or wore sunglasses, though." He admitted, still looking down at the image. He was oblivious to the grim looks the adults were wearing as they looked at him. His breath caught in his throat as he connected the dots in his head. "Wait. Does this mean… Is Lauren… Why…?" He asked, too many thoughts swirling in his head to get a complete sentence out.

"Calm down, Blaine. Like I said, we do have news." Julia said soothingly to him, her arm still around his shoulders.

"The school contacted the FBI branch in California after his man and the truck made several trips past the school, slowing down every time he reached the back of the school which is where - "

"The dorms are." Blaine breathed out, his eyes wide. "Detective, please tell me my sister is safe."

Detective Ludtke nodded. "She's fine but she doesn't know about this. Our plan at the moment is to keep her in the dark, so to say, and we're upping the security at her school. We think that, if indeed that man is your father, he might be targeting her next. But like, we said, we don't know if that man is your father."

Blaine let out a sigh of relief. "Good. Do Jason and Sarah know about this?" He looked towards Julia beside him.

She nodded, her green eyes bright. "Yes. And so does your brother's middle school; we're going to up the security there as well as a precautionary measure. We're still going to keep the security here with the two of us so everyone'll be safe."

His eyebrows knitted up. "What about Mairead?"

Tyler nodded reassuringly. "We're setting up security details at her school as well. Everyone's going to be safe, Blaine. I promise."

"I'll let you know, also, that we've seized several personal computers from your father's printing company. The company will not be jeopardized in any way. Currently, the vice president is taking over and will handle everything so you won't have to, Blaine." The detective said.

"I thought he already was?" Blaine asked confused.

"Well…" the detective hesitated before continuing. "Truth is, Blaine, operations had been stopped for several weeks while we interviewed everyone in the company about your father. We had no choice but to investigate everything your father might have left clues or accomplices that aided in your kidnapping. But now everyone is back in the company and working."

"Oh, if that's all then… I'm fine with it." Blaine shrugged it off as he handed the two pictures back to the detective.

"That's all we have so far, Blaine. We need to talk privately, now, but if you need us, we'll be in the teachers' quarters." Tyler said.

Blaine nodded and stood up, shaking hands with Detective Ludtke before walking out. He could feel the wind the door created behind his back as it closed. Letting out a sigh, he could feel the anger boiling inside him. It was a miracle he could walk up to his dorm room without breaking anything on the way. Once in his room, however, it was a completely different story. Blaine threw himself onto his bed, uniform and all, and started screaming profanities face first into his pillow, pounding his fists into the mattress beside his head. His cell phone rumbled and shook in his pocket insistently, but he ignored it in favor of taking out his anger on the soft mattress. It was finally when his ringtone sounded he could stand it anymore and pulled it out and answered it without checking who was calling. "WHAT?" He exploded angrily into the Android.

"Hello to you, too." Mairead's voice said drily. "Mom just told me what happened."

"Can… can I just rant for a minute, Mari?" Blaine said through gritted teeth as he rolled over onto his back.

"I was just going to ask you if you wanted to. Give it to me." Mairead said.

Blaine felt the anger boil over as he yelled into his phone profanities laced throughout about his father, about how unfair that he had to be the one to hold together his now fragmented family, how his mother was dead way before it was her time to go, about everything she would miss out on in all of their lives, and so on and so on.

"Better?" Mairead asked kindly.

"Yeah… tons." Blaine said, opening his eyes and staring up into the ceiling for the first time he landed on his bed. "I just don't get why the bastard won't give up. He has the authorities looking for him all over this freaking country."

"Well, he's not going to be free for much longer by the way the FBI are putting a bounty on his head." Mairead said harshly.

"I… I just don't get why he had to do this. Just because I'm gay? Just because I prefer guys?" Blaine murmured, running a hand over his face.

Mairead sighed from the other side of the call. "Don't think about it too hard. Think about other things. Trust me, thinking about this is going to keep you up all night and I know you haven't been sleeping, Blaine." She accused.

"Kurt?"

"Kurt."

Blaine sighed. "It's the nightmares, Mari. They won't stop. I keep seeing you, Joey, Lauren, and Kurt dead or about to be dead."

"Well, you're not losing me that easily. I'll fight tooth and nail to stay alive. You still sound stressed, Blaine. Why don't you go box the punching bag? Get some of that anger out." Mairead suggested. "I have to get back to doing homework and I need to practice viola, too. I just wanted to call to get you to release some anger before Kurt gets back from his appointment."

"Kurt!" Blaine bolted upright in the bed. "Mari, he hasn't gotten back yet. His appointment was at eleven and now it's…" He looked at his watch, "It's _four o'clock_. It was just a follow up appointment. I'm actually getting scared, Mari."

"Blaine, he might have stopped at home or gone to visit his friends at McKinley. I'm sure he's fine. Just calm down and go box." She ordered him over the phone.

"Alright, I guess." He said sullenly.

"Blaine, _go_. I love you and I'll talk to you later."

"Love you too. Bye." Blaine hung up after her reply. He sighed one last time and checked his text messages he ignored earlier. The first one was from Kurt, saying he would be back shortly and the next one was from Mairead, asking him to talk. He got up off of the bed and into his closet, looking for his white tank top and mesh workout shorts. A few minutes later found him boxing the hell out of a punching bag with his right hand, he didn't want to risk reinjuring his left wrist while it was still weak from weeks of being in a cast and brace. Blaine kept imagining the face of his father and everyone who had ever hurt him. It drew the attention of the other boys in gym working out on various apparatuses alongside him.

"Blaine?" Flint called softly from where he was sitting up from bench pressing weights. His voice the only sound in the gym other than the loud thumps of Blaine's boxing glove pounding the hanging bag.

"What?" _Punch_.

"Are you okay?"

"I." _Punch._ "Am." _Punch_. "Perfectly."_ Punch. _"FINE." _Punch._ Blaine growled with every punch. "Why?" He panted, punching the bag one last time before stopping and realizing everyone in the gym was looking at him. "Don't you all have stuff to do?" He half-shouted at all the boys.

Everyone almost immediately went back to their tasks while keeping a wary eye on him. Flint stood up and walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "C'mon, let's get something to drink."

"So, what's going on?" Flint said as they sat on an uncluttered wooden bench in the empty locker room, chugging down bottles of Gatorade.

Blaine sighed as he took the bottle away from his lips after swallowing half a bottle of the berry flavored drink. "My father's in California. Near my sister, the police think. It's scaring me to death that he might get to her the way he got to me and Kurt." He looked down at his hands.

"So what are they doing?"

"They're setting up security stuff but even with all of this going on, I can't help but think about the worst case scenarios, you know?" Blaine told him before taking another sip of his Gatorade.

Flint nodded. "I know what you mean. All the bad thoughts that just pop up and the most inconvenient times?"

Blaine bobbed his head as he screwed the orange cap back on the half empty bottle. He played around with the ends of the wrapping he encased his knuckles with before answering the burly Warbler beat boxer. "More like all the time." Blaine said quietly. "I just don't know what's going to happen with him still out there, Flint."

"Nor should you. The future doesn't exist, Blaine. It isn't set in stone what people do or don't do. Everything is up in the air and it's not up to us whether they happen or not." Flint told him wisely.

"But what I can do is-"

"Is not to worry too much." Flint cut in before Blaine could finish. "Your brother and sister are going to be safe. Mairead's going to safe and so are you and Kurt. Blaine, worrying too much about everything is only going to hurt you. What you can do is be there for your family; and let your family be there for you as you're there for them. I mean, look at us? If you told me a year ago that the Warblers would be heading to a regional show choir competition, I would have throttled you across the wrestling room mats and called you completely insane. And now look what we've done?" Flint flung his arms out.

Blaine smiled and ducked his head in defeat of Flint's excellent argument. He held his hands up and grinned more confidently at him. "I surrender. You got me, Flint."

Flint laughed. "Once you stop and think about it, it's actually kinda abstract." He stood up with his bottle of orange Gatorade in hand. "I'm going back out, wanna come back out and punch some more?"

Blaine shook his head, his muscles already aching from being used too much after not using them enough before today. "Nah, I think I got most of my anger out; until someone steals my guitar again." He joked.

Rolling his eyes, Flint headed towards the door. "I'll the guys to leave you alone. Just remember, don't worry about anything. It'll come in time." He abruptly stopped in his footsteps as a blush colored his face. "That sounded so wrong." He said bleakly in embarrassment.

Blaine couldn't stop the laughter from accenting his voice. "Flint… just… just go!" Blaine laughed, his stomach hurting from the gales of laughter trying to explode out of him; he only restrained from full out laughing to save his friend some shred of dignity.

Once he heard the door slam unintentionally shut, Blaine straddled the bench and lay down on his back while he laughed until he ran out of breath. Feeling considerably lighter, he got up after a bit and changed out of his sweat soaked clothing. Just as he was unrolling the wrappings from his right hand, he heard his Android rumble on the shelf of the dark brown colored wood locker. Kurt's name popped up as he unlocked his phone, a text message ready to be read.

_Meet me on the Masters' Staircase?_

Blaine texted back as he slipped his shoes on. _Let me shower first, I was just in the gym._

Just as he was about to leave the locker room, Kurt texted him again. _ No. Blaine, just meet me on the staircase. I need to tell you something… important._

Blaine frowned slightly as he changed direction in the hallway he was walking in, instead heading towards the Warblers' room and then the staircase. As he approached, he could see Kurt a little less than halfway up on the spiral stairwell; running his hand along the smooth iron railing and looking at the portraits of Dalton's headmasters on the curving wall underneath the mirrors that hung high up. "Hey." Blaine called out to him as he started to ascend the marble steps.

Kurt smiled as he waited for Blaine to make his way to him. He planted a soft kiss on his cheek. "Hello. You look very nice like this, you know?" He raised a hand up to Blaine's hair, curls popping free of the gel when he was boxing.

Blaine slipped over Kurt's on the railing. "You said you had something you wanted to talk about?" Kurt nodded but Blaine continued on. "I have something to tell you, too."

Raising a delicately plucked eyebrow, Kurt responded, "Oh? Do tell."

Grimacing, Blaine told him about Matthew being in California near his sister and the new security being put up around them. The entire time, he could feel Kurt's hand clenching ever so slightly under his.

"Maybe I shouldn't do this then…" Kurt mumbled under his breath as Blaine finished up, hoping he didn't hear.

Blaine, however, did hear his little murmur. "Kurt, what shouldn't you do?"

Kurt took a deep breath before starting. He looked down at Blaine, since he was higher up on the staircase than he was. "Do you remember how I first met you? On this stairwell? We're almost at the exact same spot we first saw each other." Kurt said softly.

Blaine looked around and found that he was right, they were both standing the exact same way, too. He nodded his agreement.

"Do you remember why I transferred? To Dalton?" He shifted his gazed towards their hands layered against the other.

"To get away from Karofsky. Kurt, what's going on?" Blaine asked, his voice laced with concern.

Kurt nodded and lifted his glasz pupils to meet Blaine's hazel orbs. "Blaine, Karofsky, his dad and my dad… arranged a meeting in Figgins' office today at McKinley."

Blaine's eyes went wide, his mouth gaping open and his heart pounding in his chest as he imagined what in the world they could have said to each other.

Giving him a small smile, Kurt continued. "Karofsky wanted to apologize for everything he did to me while I was still at McKinley. Turns out his diabolical ulterior motive was to get him and Santana the monarchial titles of the school's biggest social event coming up soon."

Blaine nodded, not trusting himself to speak quite yet. He wondered if only apologized to prevent anyone from finding out his secret.

"Anyway," Blaine's attention snapped back to Kurt. "He and Santana created the 'Bully Whips' to apparently stop anyone bullying in the halls. So far, it's working and he's reformed underneath Santana's caring wing." Kurt rolled his eyes.

Blaine gave a breathy laugh. "So if he's apologized, what does that mean to you, love?"

Kurt took his hand off of Blaine's and raised both hands to cup Blaine's face. "You know I love you, right? I love you so much that it hurts me to tell you…"

Blaine lifted his own hands to grip Kurt's wrists gently. "You're transferring back to McKinley, aren't you?" He tried to say without getting too choked up.

Kurt averted his eyes to the steps beneath them. "I want to, Blaine. I want to be with my friends again. As much as I love you and the Warblers, I miss them."

"Kurt."

The brunette looked back up to see tears in Blaine's eyes as his heart sank to the bottoms of his feet. Kurt opened his mouth but Blaine kept talking.

"I _want_ you to go back."

Kurt stood there stunned. "But, what about-"

Blaine pressed a finger to Kurt's lips. "We'll be fine. We'll still call each other every day and Skype whenever we can; and we'll see each other as soon as school lets out for weekends and breaks; and we'll be together every minute of this summer. I promise; I'm not mad or sad. I'm happy that you're going back to the New Directions. You deserve to be happy, Kurt."

Before Blaine could get another word out, Kurt pressed his lips to his and kissed him emotionally, tears slipping down both of their faces. "You deserve to be happy too, Blaine. I love you and I would never leave you." Kurt whispered when the broke apart.

"I know." Blaine whispered equally as quiet. "I love you, too."

The two of them walked down the staircase holding the other's arm, a soft orange light filtering from above through the frosted glass ceiling window with the elegant black iron detailing throwing shadows across the walls as they lovingly walked together.

* * *

_Wednesday, one in the afternoon_

"…So effective at the end of school tomorrow, I will no longer be a student at Dalton Academy." Kurt said as he completed telling the Warblers about his transfer back to McKinley. "I want to thank you all for making the past few months an experience I won't soon forget. Being part of the Warblers has been one of the best moments in my, admittedly, young life and I can't thank you enough for accepting me into this amazing choir."

Silence reigned after Kurt finished. Most of the boys had stunned or surprised looks on their faces, not fully realizing that one of their own was about to leave their ranks. Wes was the first one to regain his voice. "Kurt, while this is unexpected, I'm sure all of us will miss you quite sorely. Thank you for what you've contributed to the Warblers." He blinked away tears and cleared his throat to hide the fact that he was devastated before continuing onto other business.

Kurt sat down beside Blaine on the comfy brown leather couch, taking Blaine's hand and squeezing as Blaine smiled at him and squeezed back. Mainly focused on running his thumb over Blaine's knuckles, Kurt barely paid attention to Thad, Wes, and David talking about the future performances of the Warblers before being dismissed for the evening.

"Blaine, can you stay back for a few minutes?" David called out to the pair just as they were about to walk out.

The two turned, still holding hands, and Blaine nodded.

"I'll be in my room, packing up my clothes." Kurt murmured in his ear as Blaine leaned into kiss his cheek.

Once Kurt was out of sight, two of the Warblers still in the room shut the door hurriedly. Blaine looked back in the room and saw everyone was still there. "Guys… what…?" He asked the room in general.

"Blaine, sit back down." Thad directed. Blaine sat back down in his seat as a cacophony of conversations sounded around him.

"What are we going to do?"

"Do you think The Fray's Cable Car?"

"How about Colby Calliet? Should be easy enough…"

"I think we should do Coldplay's Yellow; we can substitute the drum parts for Flint's beatboxing."

The gavel sounded three times quite loudly and all the talking stopped. Blaine looked bemused at everyone. "What's going on? Why's everyone still here?"

David sighed. "We need to talk about a sendoff song for Kurt. We do it for every Warblers who leaves us during the school year."

"The last we did was for James, a year and half ago. Before you came, Blaine." Thad added.

"Turns out he transferred to a French school when his mother got promoted to a U.S. delegate's assistant." Wes added as he was on his iPhone and was scrolling through something on the screen.

"So you need me… why?" Blaine asked carefully.

"We want you to sing solo. Since you two are dating and close. What song do you think we should sing to him?" David asked, looking at him seriously.

Blaine dug through his brain as everyone around him were on smart phones or laptops looking through song lists. Some of them murmured suggestions but Blaine remained still and silent as he tried to think of a good song to sing to the soon departing Warbler.

"What about…" Blaine began softly, hesitating at his choice. "What about Keane's 'Somewhere Only We Know'?"

The room fell silent once more as everyone pondered at his choice. Blaine waited, hoping everyone wouldn't question it.

"Sounds good to me!" Jeff said, breaking everyone's thoughts. "I mean, it shouldn't be too hard."

"Yes, Jeff, but what about the melody? If we're going to do that song, we'll need boys with high voices to harmonize with the baritones to balance out the choruses. And the only boy with a high enough voice is Kurt." Wes said, quickly typing something on his iPhone.

"And there's also the question of where we're going to sing this to him. I mean, when we sang to James, it was at the entrance of the school right as he was going to leave." David responded.

"How about we go to McKinley?" Blaine suggested. "Kurt's not going to like making a huge spectacle in front of Dalton and it'll make him feel more guilty than he already is for leaving." He left out the part about Kurt feeling guilty for leaving _him_. "And I'm sure we can get the New Directions to help out with singing the song."

"Alright, let's get started." Thad plugged his iPhone into the iPod dock that connected to the room's sound speakers. "Grant, you take first run."

A boy to the right of Blaine nodded and left the room. "First run?" Blaine asked as everyone watched him exit though the doors.

"It's just to make sure Kurt doesn't suspect anything. We'll take turn standing guard in the dorm hallway to make sure he doesn't come here. Blaine, can you talk to the New Directions to organize rehearsal with them tomorrow? Maybe in the evening?" Wes asked of him.

Blaine nodded and the Warblers began practicing. It wasn't until nearly midnight they adjourned. Blaine dragged his feet back to his dorm and opened his door to a dark room. He decided to keep lights off and undressed in the dark, feeling for his pajamas and redressing in the t-shirt and sweatpants. Sliding under the covers, his cheek hit a piece of paper on his pillow. Squinting, as he already took out his contacts, he read the words in elegant cursive:

_I'll see you tomorrow morning during Calc. I love you, Blaine Anderson. –K _

Blaine smiled and tucked the note beneath his pillow and drifted off with the words of Somewhere Only We Know sounding in his head.

* * *

_Thursday, three in the afternoon_

Burt slammed the trunk door down on Kurt's Navigator and told him he would be waiting in the car. The Warblers along with a crowd of Dalton boys were standing right outside the gates.

"Well, this is good bye." Kurt called out to the boys. "I'll miss you all and I'll come back and visit some time. Thank you guys, for making me feel welcome."

Kurt tried to keep his tears back as he hugged a few of the boys he had grown to be friends with, from either classes or just passing the hallways of the school. Everyone walked back into the school, except one who hung back after everyone left.

Blaine walked up to Kurt, holding a rectangular parcel wrapped in brown paper in his hands. "Hey." Blaine said softly, leaning in close to Kurt. He wound his fingers though Kurt's.

"You know how much I love you. I don't want to see you hurting, Blaine. Please don't cry." Kurt pleaded quietly, sensing that Blaine was close to tears.

Blaine blinked rapidly to keep tears from falling. He held out the wrapped package. "Here, something to remind us when you're back at McKinley."

Kurt smiled as he took the present and ripped open the wrapping. It was a picture of all the Warblers celebrating on stage after singing "Raise Your Glass" at Regionals. He smiled as he saw Blaine and him in the center, swamped by all the other boys around them.

"Mairead rush ordered the picture online after I told her last night. She got the frame, too." Blaine told him.

Looking at the black iron surrounding the glass covering, he admired Mari's choice. The vines wound around the rectangular shape, occasionally sprouting two leaves on both sides of a vine. What really made the frame memorable was the color of the leaves; half of the leaves were blue and the other half purple.

"She managed to get our two favorite colors painted on the leaves. Her mom's friend works a Hallmark shop so it was easy to get it painted right away." Blaine explained. "And here, one more present." He pulled out a key from his pocket. "This key; it's the key to Mairead's house. If you want to come see me when I'm there, use the key." Blaine placed the key on top of the picture frame.

"Blaine…" Kurt breathed out. "I…" Tears started rolling down his pale cheeks and dripped off his chin to the ground.

Blaine gently rested a finger on his lips, his own tears coming down. He leaned in and kissed Kurt softly but passionately. Both of their faces were wet as they stood there.

"Kurt, let's go, kiddo. Carole's made a special dinner for you and we'll be late if we don't get going now." Burt called out with the passenger side window rolled down.

The two broke apart and looked towards the back windows of the Navigator. Blaine smiled as Kurt looked him in the eyes, already red rimmed from the tears. "I love you, Kurt Hummel." Blaine whispered.

"I love you, Blaine Anderson, and I'll never stop loving you." Kurt whispered back. The two kissed one last time before Kurt climbed into the car.

Blaine stayed where he was, in the entrance of the gates until he couldn't see the black car anymore. He wiped his eyes and nose on his shirt sleeve and walked swiftly into Dalton's student parking lot where Jeff was waiting in his car along with Nick and Trent. Blaine quickly opened the door to the seat behind Jeff and buckled his seat belt as Jeff revved up the engine and screeched out of the parking lot. The other Warblers were already en route to McKinley.

He sniffled and started to wipe his nose on his sleeve again until Trent offered him a tissue box. Blaine smiled gratefully and thanked him. Jeff and Nick were already singing along with the radio as they turned onto the highway. Blaine leaned his head back into the seat and looked out the window, going over the lyrics in his head. Before he noticed, he had drifted off. Trent shook his shoulder as they pulled into the student parking lot of McKinley High School.

"Hey, Blaine." Mercedes said as she hugged him after the four of them located the New Direction girls and the Warblers in the concrete courtyard rehearsing.

"Hi, Mercedes." Blaine answered into her shoulder. "Thanks for letting us do this."

"Aw, it was nothing. Although it was a pain to keep it from Rachel, though. If she knew, this whole thing would be for nothing."

"Speaking of Rachel, where is she?" Blaine looked around.

"She's out with Finn and the boys. Finn got your text, so he's keeping them and Rachel busy while we do our thing here." Mercedes explained.

Tina, Santana, Lauren Zizes, Quinn, Brittany, and the other Warblers were fooling around while they waited for Blaine to come. Blaine could hear the band warming up behind them. The two groups rehearsed until it became too dark to practice anymore. Brittany was used as the Kurt substitute the whole time and seemed to enjoy it considering that she was about to follow the boys when they went back to their cars, Santana stopped her before she could get in the same car with Thad and the other two Warbler council members.

Blaine yawned as he looked up at the ceiling of his room when his phone rumbled with the prospect of a text. He put his glasses on with one hand as he read that he missed seventeen text messages from Kurt, most of them asking why he hadn't texted him back; the last one threatening to come back to Dalton. Texting back, Blaine reassured him that he was okay and that he was just doing some extra credit movie review for his Latin class.

Turning off his cell phone, Blaine tried to sleep but the nervous feeling in his stomach wouldn't allow it. He tossed and turned until two in the morning. Having enough of the sleeplessness, he resorted to turning on his MacBook laptop and going to YouTube and went to a video of Keane singing the song he would soon sing to Kurt. Putting it on repeat, he finally dozed off.

* * *

_Friday, five minutes before noon_

Taking out his pocket watch, he fidgeted with the clasp from where he was hiding out with the Warblers behind a brick wall that concealed them from the court yard. He had snuck a peak of Kurt when he saw him walking to the top of the stairwell. Blaine couldn't help but smile at how happy Kurt looked in his black pants, white heeled shoes, startling white jacket, and a black top hat. Spying something shiny at Kurt's neck, Blaine's heart gave a little jump when he saw the key he had given him hanging front and center of his key necklace that was attached to the front of his shirt collar.

Blaine took a deep breath as he heard Mercedes proclaim to the New Directions that it was noon and then Kurt's shout of his transfer back to his friends. He jumped slightly as Wes put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and smiled while they wait for Mercedes to say the phrase that would bring him, David, and Wes out before the rest of the Warblers joined him. He looked nervously at the courtyard full of the students and then heard Mercedes half shout the phrase.

Blaine walked down the first flight of stairs and faced Kurt, trying not to let his emotions get the better of him as he spoke. "Kurt, Dalton's going to miss you. You were a great addition to the Warblers. You made us a better team." He swallowed before continuing, keeping his voice steady. "I'm sad to see you go, but we all know that this is something that you really want." Blaine glanced side to side at Wes and David nodding solemnly. "I'll still have you after school and on the weekends, but these guys won't so they wanted to say good bye." He motioned to the two boys behind him with his hands and smiled.

"And thank you, Kurt." Wes added.

Wes and David started the song just as the other Warblers filed in, in perfect formation and Blaine started singing.

_I walked across an empty land_

_I knew the pathway like the back of my hand_

_I felt the earth beneath my feet_

_Sent by the river and it made me complete_

Blaine walked towards Kurt, the Warblers following him and spreading themselves out, smoothly executing their routine down the stairs.

_Oh, simple thing, where have you gone?_

_I'm getting old and I need something to rely on_

_So tell me when you're gonna let me in_

_I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin_

Running down to the piano, he could feel his still healing leg protesting but he pushed away the pain. Blaine's left hand and fingers ached with the sudden exertion of playing the faux ivory and ebony keys but he willed away the pain.

_And if you have a minute why don't we go_

_Talk about it somewhere only we know_

_This could be the end of everything_

Watching from the corner of his eye, he saw the Warblers coming down the steps to stand behind him. As they did so, Blaine couldn't help the torrent of memories flashing through his mind of the two of them; from when they first met that faithful day on the stair case to their first kiss.

_So why don't we go _

_Somewhere only we know_

_Somewhere only we know_

He stopped playing on the piano, walked up to Kurt, and pulled him lovingly down by both hands, taking in his smile. All of the New Directions joined in with the acapella choir as the Warblers continued singing as he harmonized with them, elongating certain words. The boys came up and clapped him on the shoulder or hugged him as their final farewell before joining the New Directions back on the stairs.

_Somewhere we know_

_And if you have a minute why don't we go_

_Talk about it somewhere only we know_

Blaine joined back in as Finn and Mercedes hugged him.

_This could be the end of everything_

_So why don't we go_

_Somewhere only we know_

_Somewhere only we know_

_Somewhere only we know_

Blaine looked down and struggled to keep the sob that was fighting its way to the surface.

Kurt pulled Blaine into a tight hug. "I'm never saying good bye to you." He mumbled into Blaine's ear. They only broke apart when a bell sounded, signaling the end of the period.

Blaine gave him one last look before following his friends up the stairs and out of the courtyard. Stopping halfway up, he looked back to see Kurt surrounded by the New Directions and crying softly. Blaine smiled as a tear slipped down his own face and he started to walk back up the steps to go back to Dalton, surrounded by his friends squeezing his shoulder.

Going back to his dorm room after coming back to Dalton, he locked the door and flung himself face down on his bed, uniform and all. He sobbed into his pillow out of happiness that Kurt was back at McKinley, sorrow that Kurt wasn't at Dalton anymore, and just crying for the sake of releasing the emotions he had been holding back from exploding out of him all day.

Two hours or so passed and Blaine was looking at the wall, calming himself down when his cell phone rang. He had been ignoring the rumblings of his Android but he couldn't avoid the shrill ringtone. "Hello?" Blaine answered dully, not even bothering to read who was calling before pressing the green button on his touch screen to answer it.

"Skype. Now." Mairead's voice answered him sternly.

"Not in the mood, Mari." Blaine grumbled, rolling over onto his back.

"Do I need to get Jeff to break into your room and _force_ you to get on your computer?" She demanded. "I know what happened today and you realize what time it is?"

Blaine stayed silent, not really caring about the time; not really caring about anything at all, actually.

"It's half past four and none of the boys haven't seen you at all since you all got back. Nick told me that you locked yourself in your room and refuse to answer anyone's texts. _Including mine_." Mairead sighed. "Look, Blaine… I care about you, Kurt cares about you, everyone at fucking_ Dalton_ cares about you. So, please… get on Skype with me 'cause I really am worried about you." She concluded quietly.

Hearing the pleading tone in her voice, he acquiesced. "I'll be on in a few minutes." With that, he ended the call without hearing her response. Blaine dragged himself to his desk and powered up his MacBook. Once it was on, he looked at his desktop image of him and Kurt hugging a few seconds before clicking on his Skype link on his toolbar. Just as he was about to click Mairead's name on the left side of the Skype window, he wasn't surprised that she called first. Her face popped up on his screen.

"Thank you." Mairead said, her face relaxing in relief to Blaine's appearance on her screen. "You look tired." She said softly, adjusting her hands under her chin.

Blaine sighed. "You think?" He said sarcastically.

"No, I mean you look _tired_. Not just physically, Blaine." She ignored his previous statement. "When's the last time you've just relaxed? Or had fun?"

Blaine blinked. _What?_ He thought inwardly for a moment, trying to comprehend her question. "Um…" was all he could manage as he searched his brain.

Mairead raised an eyebrow. "Really?" She asked dryly. "You haven't had to hose down the chem labs yet from Jeff and Nick? Even last week when they mixed hydrogen peroxide and Heckland's mystery solution that basically made foam fill the room?"

Coughing out a laugh, Blaine remembered the incident. "No, but I remember that I was frantically trying to remember the stoichiometry formulas for the test I had to make up after class that day."

"Okay, here's what's going to happen." Mairead shifted on her bed, the pillow nearly disappearing underneath her arms. "You're coming home this weekend and we're going to have _fun._"

"Sure, I guess." Blaine said listlessly, his mind turning back to Kurt.

Mairead's gaze turned from joking to serious. "And besides, your mom's gravestone was delivered to the cemetery today. I'd thought you and Joey would want to go and visit her, too; since you're coming home anyway." She paused to let him soak in the news. "My mom and dad have a present for you, too. And Lauren when she comes home in June."

Blaine looked mildly surprised. "Care to tell me?"

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a present, would it?"

"…Touché."

Blaine grinned as she laughed on the other end of the Skype call. The two of them talked together about various other things before Blaine had to sign off for homework.

"Yes, I promise, I'll meet your dad at the front gates after school Friday and we'll have fun." Blaine rolled his eyes after Mairead threatened not to let him off the call until he promised.

Mairead smirked. "Love you, Blaine."

"Love you, too, Mairead."

Flipping the screen shut, he leaned back on his chair feeling happier. Blaine changed out of his uniform into a casual pale black button up with a white and gray t-shirt underneath, worn dark blue jeans, and his gray Converses. As he walked down the spiral staircase to go to the dining hall, he stopped at the place where Kurt first introduced himself to him. Blaine closed his eyes and let the memory replay in his mind and when he opened his eyes again, he couldn't help but smile broadly.

"So why don't we go, somewhere only we know…" He sang softly to himself, smiling, before he continued on his way to Dalton's dining hall to have dinner with his friends.

* * *

**Hi guys, I just wanted to thank you guys for your kind words of encouragement and support last chapter. Life still... sucks, but I'm toughing it through.** **Like I said last chapter, the updates are going to be irregular but I promise to keep going on this story.**

**Thank you so much, guys. And like always, please leave a kind word or two in a review. :)**

**4-2-12**


	29. Chapter 29

_Wednesday, noon_

Mairead sighed, putting the side of her face into her left hand. Ever since the fracture in her wrist started healing as fast as water sculpts stone and her left shoulder wasn't able to support much weight, she hadn't been allowed to play her viola at all; which meant boring spans of time during each school day when she was supposed to be sitting in the section warming up with the other three violas in her chamber orchestra. She picked at the brace keeping her wrist stiff and unbending as her iPhone vibrated in her back pocket. Unlocking her screen, Kurt's name popped up.

_Like my shirt?_

Kurt had attached an image of him wearing a white t-shirt proclaiming in big black, bold letters, LIKES BOYS in the center of the shirt. Mari could make out the red and black plaid jacket just on the borders of the picture.

She smiled widely and texted him back. _Fierce and sexy! Have you shown B?_ Putting down the phone on the table, she got back to labeling the slim white sheet music boxes in the office of her orchestra teacher as the sounds of strings warming up drifted quite loudly through the open doorway. Tapping her foot along the beat to Dvorak's New World Symphony, she nearly missed the screen lighting up to a new text.

_Yup. Apparently, he can't wait to get his hands on this shirt. _

Mari thought for a bit before replying. _Hold onto that thought, I have a good idea for his shirt. Just keep your shirt for right now._ She got back to putting Holst's Mars piece of the Planets series into a box while she thought of an idea to give Blaine a bit of a surprise. Tapping her foot along with the rapid beat of the beginning and then jumping when the trumpets announced their arrival, she got the idea. _Where did you get the shirt printed? Can they do another shirt?_

She didn't hear back from him for awhile so she put the rest of the music she was filing back on the shelves in the orchestra office and quietly headed out a few minutes before the bell rang signaling the end of third hour. Sometimes being injured had its perks; being able to go to the next class without the monstrous crowds was one of them.

It didn't help to have students staring at her like she was some kind of criminal, watching as she walked past them in the sparsely populated hallways. Mari quickly walked to her next classroom, pressing her back to the wall when she got there because the bell hadn't rung yet. Her wrist and the stiff brace was starting get heavier for her to hold up so she let her backpack fall off her right shoulder and onto the ground before sliding down the wall so she sat on the tiled linoleum floor. Unzipping one of the smaller front pockets, she pulled out the black shoulder sling and set it in her lap before zipping the pocket up again.

Sliding her right forearm into the long pocket of the sling, Mairead pulled the strap over her head to rest on the muscle between her shoulder and neck. Part of her t-shirt slid off her left shoulder revealing the dark circular mark of the gunshot when she was adjusting it. It was just her luck as soon as the shirt slid off, the door to the classroom across from her opened and a mass of students walked out and saw the scar. Quickly pulling it back up, she ducked her head and tried not to listen to the students' chatter and also tried not to feel their stares boring into her.

"Did you see that?"

"That scar, it looked gross."

"She's probably faking the wrist injury. I had a broken thumb and in healed in two weeks. She's had what, four weeks with that sling?"

"That's the first time I've seen her. I thought she dropped out."

Tears prickled at Mairead's eyes as she struggled to pull her backpack over her right arm but her left shoulder protested in pain. She waited embarrassingly for someone who was in her fourth hour English class to come near the door before asking them to bring in her backpack. Luckily, her English teacher came out relatively quickly after his third hour class was completely out. He brought in her bag and to her assigned seat with a small smile as she limped in, her leg aching deep to the bone. Considering the classroom was empty at the moment, Mairead slipped her hand into one of the side mesh pockets of her backpack and pulled out a small bottle of Tylenol and her water bottle from the other side. Just turning the lid open, her mother had put in a few pills in a non-childproof jar, thank god, she shook out two of the ovular pills and set them on her desk before lifting the nozzle of her bright orange Camelbak water bottle clumsily with her left hand. She sipped the water before drinking one of the pills; when she was about to swallow the other pill, the door opened with a loud sound and she choked on the pill halfway down her throat. It went down with a hard swallow, but left her coughing for a minute as she tried to calm down. As usual, the stares started up again as the classroom filled up with students. As the teacher started his lecture, she pulled out her voice recorder and tried to write down some notes, but it ended up looking like scribbles considering she was writing with her left hand and she was more dominant with her right.

With a small sigh, Mairead gave up, dropping her pen down with a small _thwump_ onto the lined white paper. She pulled out her phone and set it in front of her, turning it on.

_Hey Mom, I took two tylenol half an hour ago. My wrist and leg really hurt. :/_ She typed on the touch screen. It only took a minute or two later when the screen lit up silently, announcing a new message.

_Do you want Nick to come with the wheelchair? _Sarah had texted back.

Mairead rolled her eyes and silently groaned. _You know how much I hate that thing. And add to the fact I nearly had to kick my backpack into my last class._

_I'll tell him._

She didn't dread the wheelchair, per say, but more bracing herself for the stares when her brother came with it.

The class finally ended and she took her time putting her notebook and voice recorder away after the bell had rung, still sitting at her desk while her classmates had congregated at the door waiting to be let go. "Need me to help you out, Mairead?" Her English teacher asked as he put his files in his bag.

Shaking her head, she gave him a small smile. "No, my brother is coming in a little bit. Is it okay if I stay in here until then?"

"Sure, do you want me to prop the door open?"

"NO!" Mairead half shouted, her eyes going wide. "I mean, no, you can leave it closed; he knows where this classroom is." She said quietly. Casting her eyes downward in embarrassment, she busied herself with trying to get her Kindle out of one the pockets.

The teacher left without another word, the door slamming behind him unintentionally. She got her hands up to her ears in time before the resulting bang sounded.

Nick came half an hour later with the folded up blue and black wheelchair in front of him. The door opening alerted her to his presence. He smiled as he came in. "Somebody call?"

"Shut up."

He expanded the chair so the seat lay flat and slung her bag over his shoulder. Mairead carefully maneuvered herself into the chair, using two desks as leverage and sitting heavily into the black seat. She leaned her head against one of his arms holding the chair still while she got in it; tired from the school day and in pain. "Thanks for doing this, Nick. Really." Mari murmured as soon as they started moving.

Nick kissed his sister on the top of her head. "Anything. I'll take you out the back ways were no one goes to after school. Save you the damn stares. You can keep leaning against my arm if you want to; take a nap." A few minutes later and two elevator rides down found them in the parking lot near Nick's CR-V. The Asian girl had passed out, leaning against his arm the whole ride down. He gently shook her awake for a few moments so her head didn't fall awkwardly to the side when he had to open the passenger side door. Instead of having her get in herself, Nick scooped her up in his arms and set her gently in the reclined seat before buckling the seat belt across her. She fell straight back to sleep as soon as the door closed and the motion of the car moving sent her into the comfortable blackness.

* * *

_The next Friday, half past two in the afternoon_

Blaine was packing a few clothes into his duffle bag for the weekend when he heard a knock at the door. "Come in." He called out without turning around.

"Going home for the weekend, Blaine?" Jeff popped into his peripheral vision as he was putting a shirt in the bag.

"Mhm. Mairead made me promise last week that I would go back to Ashland, back to her house, for the weekend for some fun. Or what her definition of fun is, anyway." Blaine said as he zipped up the medium sized duffle. "She said that my mom's gravestone's coming this weekend, too. I need to be there with Joey, too." He said in a quieter tone.

Jeff's eyebrows knitted up. "Need me to come with?"

"No." Blaine shook his head. "I think it's something me and Joey need to deal with on our own; but thanks, though." He sat down on the bed, the mattress bouncing slightly with how heavily he fell on the cushioned surface. Blaine dropped his head into his hands. All the emotions since his mother's death Blaine had been suppressing since he returned to Dalton were bubbling its way to the surface again. "It's just hard, knowing everyday that my mom's… passed on. And not of natural causes, either."

Jeff sat down next to him on the edge of the bed. "They're going to catch him. You know it, Blaine. And besides, if you're going home, there's bound to be something good to happen." He ended with an upbeat tone in his voice.

Blaine smiled sadly. "I guess. Which reminds me…" He smiled slyly. "Are you planning on asking Mari out soon?"

Jeff's face blanched. "I h-have n-no idea what you mean." He stuttered, his eyes widening comically.

Blaine snorted. "Oh c'mon," he rolled his eyes, "all of us know you two have a thing going on. I mean, every time she's with me and you're there, you two are always talking. Oh, and the texting? I swear you've been texting her all the time with what's going on around here. How did she know about Flint's cooking when I got food poisoning a few weeks ago? Or how about the time when - "

"Alright!" Jeff cut in before Blaine could get another word in.

Blaine smirked in victory and raised an eyebrow for him to continue.

"She's nice and all, but I don't know how she'll react if I ask her out for a date or something." Jeff said exasperatingly. "You know her better than I do; how do you think she'll react?"

Thinking for a moment, Blaine replied "Well, considering that her last relationship didn't go that well, she'll be a bit guarded. But it is _your_ job to get to know her and ask questions. Her last relationship was a bit… backwards. Her ex told her she was too clingy so Mari might be a little scared to ask questions about you." He felt his phone vibrate in the pocket of his jeans. "Don't get me wrong, she'll bite back hard if you say something that irks her so watch what you're saying if you value your life." Blaine warned with a smile. "I'll see you Sunday night? Jason's here to pick me up." Jeff nodded and hugged the smaller boy.

* * *

**Hi. Um… it's been a year, I know. I've… been having some really, really, rough times and still am. I know this chapter is short, and I'm sorry about that. I'm going to try and get a few chapters in a month after May ends, so hopefully that'll happen. Just a question for you all who are still reading; would you mind if I used some recent songs in the next chapters? I know this takes place during the tail end of season 2, but recently when I've been writing bits and pieces of the future chapters, some more recent songs have snuck in.**

**Again, I'm so sorry it's taken me a year and I hope you'll forgive me. I love you all from the bottom of my heart, to those who have stuck with me since the beginning and the new readers. Thank you.**

**-AF.**


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